Status: 28.09.2023, 16:10 p.m.
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A BVG tram is parked at a stop at Alexanderplatz. © Monika Skolimowska/dpa
In Berlin, there will soon be a 49-euro ticket in addition to the nationwide 29-euro ticket. But it only applies in the city itself. There is a lot of criticism of the model.
Berlin - The 29-euro ticket will soon be back in Berlin. In the course of the first half of 2024, passengers in the capital will again be able to use buses and trains as often as they want for just under 30 euros a month, as the supervisory board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB) announced on Thursday. As before, the non-transferable ticket is only valid for fare zone AB.
Beyond the city limits, customers still need an additional ticket. The Berlin Senate has not succeeded in finding a more far-reaching settlement with the neighboring state of Brandenburg. Public transport users with a 29-euro ticket also have to pay extra for taking bicycles or dogs with them. In addition, the ticket cannot be purchased for individual months. If you want to use it, you have to take out a subscription. Details such as the question of how and where the ticket could be subscribed to are still open, said a VBB spokesman on Thursday.
The social ticket should remain
In addition, the Supervisory Board has extended the social ticket. Berliners who receive social benefits will continue to pay nine euros per month for this subscription. In Berlin, there was concern that the so-called S-Ticket could be omitted.
The 29-euro ticket has existed before and is politically highly controversial - especially because of the limited area of validity. The then red-green-red state government had introduced it for Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) in autumn 2022 as a follow-up solution to the expired 9-euro ticket, which had been valid nationwide.
With the introduction of the Deutschlandticket, which can also be used nationwide in all local public transport (ÖPNV) since May of this year, the 29-euro ticket was abolished again in Berlin. The new black-red state government had started with the election promise to reintroduce the offer. Above all, the SPD had advertised with it in the election campaign.
Transport Senator wants to stick to the 49-euro ticket
"I see the 29-euro ticket as a supplement to the successful Deutschlandticket, for the continued existence of which I will continue to work at all levels," said Berlin's Transport Senator Manja Schreiner (CDU) on Thursday.
The Greens and the Left are sceptical about the 29-euro ticket. The Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz (BUND) Berlin criticized on Thursday that the ticket, which is only valid in Berlin, is an isolated solution and thwarts the revolutionary approach of the Deutschlandticket to finally abolish the small state in the tariffs.
Criticism from the business community of the VBB decision
There was also criticism from Berlin's business community. "Of course, everyone is happy about cheap rail travel, but in view of multiple crises, a weakening economy, inflation and rising interest rates, the 29-euro ticket is above all another mortgage for the state budget," said Robert Rückel, Vice President of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce. "This money would be invested much more sensibly and sustainably in the expansion of public transport."
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SPD state leader Raed Saleh told the German Press Agency that the reintroduction of the 29-euro ticket could only be a first step. "In the future, I am firmly convinced that we will also discuss an ABC variant with Brandenburg and the VBB." He was sure that an overall strategy on mobility in Berlin and Brandenburg would now have to be discussed. Dpa
