Cuts in the subway, bus and tram: Munich City Council will absorb the deficit in MVG - "Logic is wrong"

Created: 11/28/2022, 5:10 p.m

By: Sascha Karowski

The tact on the tram lines should also be retained for the time being.

© Achim Schmidt

The city council will prevent cuts in the service program of the transport company.

Greens, SPD and CSU want to invest to maintain the status quo.

Munich - The Munich City Council will not agree to the cuts in the service program of the Munich Transport Company (MVG).

The Greens and the SPD agreed on a joint amendment yesterday afternoon.

According to this, the range of services offered by the transport companies should be maintained at the status of the 2022 timetable until the timetable change next year.

No cuts in subway, bus and tram in Munich: express buses should have been omitted

MVG had previously announced that it would discontinue lines and drive less for cost reasons.

Among other things, it was planned to cancel three express bus lines (X30, X35 and X98) without replacement.

The U7 should also no longer run during the holidays.

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

The transport companies expected savings of over 20 million euros.

"As in many other industries, our costs have increased enormously," said MVG boss Ingo Wortmann at the time.

Corona, war and the energy crisis are causing a deficit that could not be offset by the opulent increase in ticket prices by an average of 6.9 percent.

Now politicians have to help, the city council wants to approve funds on Wednesday.

No cuts in subway, bus and tram in Munich: Greens, SPD and CSU want to inject money

The CSU had also requested this on Monday afternoon with an application.

City councilor Veronika Mirlach said that the mayor had to be measured by his promise that there would be no cuts in local transport.

"Anyone who is serious about the traffic turnaround must make attractive offers - cuts would be the opposite."

The traffic turnaround is one of the most important goals of the city and thus an original task of the administration.

"We cannot and do not want to pass on the additional costs to the MVG - because in the end the passenger pays again." SPD traffic expert Nikolaus Gradl said: "The logic that investments in infrastructure lead to a reduction in the MVG offer is in wrong in our eyes.

We will therefore decide that there will be no cuts in the offer in 2023.” “We want and must strengthen and expand public transport,” says Green City Councilor Paul Bickelbacher.

"Performance cuts contradict the traffic turnaround and are therefore out of the question."