Urban bus transport in Dachau has developed positively in recent months. The number of passengers has increased sharply.
Dachau – The ten-minute service and the Germany ticket meant that the buses were well utilized. Those responsible in the city council are satisfied and see their strategy confirmed. However, further financing of the offer has not yet been secured.
Utilization of city buses improved significantly
There was a euphoric mood in the city council's works committee on Thursday. According to the most recent evaluation of passenger numbers, the Dachau public utility company has been able to significantly increase the utilization of its buses.
Accordingly, all city lines recorded a 43 percent increase in passenger numbers during the week compared to 2018, from an average daily of 10,640 to 15,220 passengers. On Saturday the number increased by 78.7 percent from 5,440 to 9,720 passengers since 2018, and on Sunday by 30.4 percent from an average daily 3,160 to 4,120 passengers. While, according to the Association of German Transport Companies, the national average number of passengers has still not recovered from the corona crisis, Dachau bus traffic is currently experiencing a real boom.
Mayor speaks of “very remarkable development”
No wonder that Mayor Florian Hartmann spoke of a “very remarkable development” and Michael Eisenmann (Alliance for Dachau) rejoiced that it was a “very, very good decision that we asked the municipal utilities to invest in the natural gas buses and the expansion of the Investing in infrastructure.” Andreas Gahr (SPD) hoped that by presenting these figures he could finally put an end to the discussion about the “ghost buses”: “All arguments are now on the table.” He jokingly added: A similar increase to the city’s “Otherwise we only have bus transport with the district levy”. He is therefore “glad that such an increase is something positive for us”.
According to Matthias Fay, head of transport operations at Stadtwerke, the significant increase in passenger numbers can be attributed primarily to three factors: the well-developed route network, the dense ten-minute intervals and the easy accessibility, including through the so-called 49- Euro or Germany ticket.
According to Fay, the ring lines 720, 722 and 726 have recently proven to be particularly popular, carrying an average of 30 passengers per trip on weekdays. The Deutschlandticket was particularly noticeable on weekends: since its nationwide introduction in May 2023, the number of passengers on city buses has increased by 34 percent on Sundays. However, it remains to be seen whether the Deutschlandticket will also be available beyond 2024 - the federal and state governments have not yet been able to agree on financing the popular offer.
No problem finding bus drivers
It is also not clear whether the district will maintain its support for urban bus transport in its current form. Reason: The district also has to save money. As reported, the district councilors had called for savings in a variety of areas of the district budget in a cross-party proposal - including local public transport. However, there are still no concrete proposals on this, let alone decisions. Mayor Hartmann responded to a corresponding query from Norbert Winter (CSU): He did not want to talk about the district's share in the financing of the city buses in the public part of the meeting. However, he confirmed: “There was a meeting about this recently.”
According to plant manager Robert Haimerl and his department head Fay, a problem that the municipal utilities will not have in the foreseeable future is the shortage of skilled workers. Unlike the district, bus operations have not been outsourced to private companies. As a public company, the municipal utilities are a much more attractive employer - including clearly defined numbers of working hours and various social benefits. “With us, no one has to put up with a mountain of overtime,” emphasized Fay. When it comes to filling the positions, “we are scratching at 100 percent”.
In addition, according to Matthias Fay, the municipal utilities also actively look after their next generation of professionals. He has received “a few applications” for the new training to become a “driving specialist”.
You can read more news from the Dachau region here.