MVG plans to cut express buses and the subway - the city council still wants to prevent this

Created: 11/21/2022, 5:00 p.m

By: Sascha Karowski

In 2013, for example, the Munich Transport Company (MVG) presented the new X30 express bus line.

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Even after consultation rounds, the MVG is sticking to the cuts in the subway, bus and tram.

The city council is appalled and wants to take countermeasures.

Munich - With buses against full subways - that was the headline in 2013. For the timetable change, the Munich Transport Company (MVG) brought the X30 express bus onto the road for the first time.

An express bus that ran every five to seven minutes on weekdays until 9 p.m. on a direct route from Max-Weber-Platz via Ostbahnhof to Harras and Partnachplatz and was no longer supposed to stop at every stop.

In the meantime, other express buses have been added, for example the X98 from the main station to the zoo.

Or the X35, which connects Moosach, Milbertshofen and Schwabing.

All should be deleted.

Without substitution.

This emerges from the service program of the MVG, which will be discussed in the city council on November 30th.

The paper not only provides for cuts in buses, for example, the U7 should no longer drive during the holidays.

With the tram, the 10-minute interval on all lines should be dropped after 8 p.m. and only start on Sundays from 11 a.m.

MVG hopes to save around 20 million euros.

MVG strike list: Verbund blames increased costs for cuts

Normally, the transport companies expand their offer every year when the timetable changes.

But not this year - Corona, war, energy crisis.

"As in many other sectors, our costs have increased enormously," says MVG boss Ingo Wortmann.

MVG, as part of the Munich Transport Association (MVV), recently announced that it would raise ticket prices by an average of 6.9 percent when the timetable changed on December 12.

But that's not nearly enough.

And it is unclear how the announced 49-euro ticket will affect the costs.

According to reports, the implementation will devour around 4.7 billion euros, but the federal government has so far only approved funds of more than three billion euros.

In any case, the tariff adjustment now for the timetable change by 6.9 percent cannot fully offset the costs, says Wortmann.

“If we had wanted to pass our cost increases on to customers, we would have had to increase prices by 21 percent.

But that is unrealistic.”

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MVG strike list: City council wants to prevent cuts – “Try to provide the funds”

Under these conditions, the transport companies currently have no choice but to make suggestions as to where necessary cuts in the offer could be implemented.

“We are referring to services that are used less often.

In most cases, however, we still comply with the specifications of the city’s local transport plan.”

Proposals – Wortmann says, the city council has to decide on November 30th.

And the majority of the panel is appalled by the list of cuts.

"We will not support that," says Green City Councilor Paul Bickelbacher.

It is correct that MVG has to save in order to be economical.

And the workload is still not what it was before the outbreak of the pandemic.

"But we will definitely try to provide the funds to at least maintain the status quo," says Bickelbacher.

"After all, the express buses in particular are very attractive."

SPD and Volt also stand for a good offer for public transport.

“And we will get that in 2023 as well.

This also applies to the express bus lines," says SPD City Councilor Nikolaus Gradl.

CSU boss Manuel Pretzl: “There must be no cuts in public transport.

Canceling important bus routes like the X30 is totally unacceptable.

There is no way we will agree to that.”