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Munich Freedom subway station
Photo: IMAGO/Ulrich Wagner
Journeys on public transport in Munich could soon become drastically more expensive: the Munich transport company (MVG) is said to be planning to raise ticket prices by an average of 6.9 percent when the timetable changes on December 12th.
This is reported by the Munich newspapers "tz" and "Münchner Merkur", citing participants in a supervisory board meeting on Tuesday.
The shareholders of the Munich Transport Association (MVV) - the Free State of Bavaria, the City of Munich and the surrounding districts - must therefore still agree.
The corresponding shareholders' meeting will be held on Friday.
When asked by SPIEGEL, the MVV confirmed that there were talks about price measures due to general consumer price increases.
According to the report, the transport companies would only pass on a small part of their increased costs to the passengers.
The fares would have to rise by 22 percent just to cover the additional energy and material costs.
The difference means that the need for subsidies for local transport is increasing.
Munich also has problems with the major project for a new S-Bahn tunnel through the city center.
As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reported on Wednesday, the second main route will be significantly more expensive and will not be ready until 2035 at the earliest.
The drastically increased bill for diesel, gas and electricity is driving transport companies nationwide.
The transport ministers of the federal states demand that the federal government pay them an additional 1.65 billion euros.
Their threatening scenario: Otherwise, local transport would have to be thinned out and at the same time become significantly more expensive for passengers.
The traffic light coalition, on the other hand, wants to make local transport cheaper in the long term.
With her relief package, she introduced a nationwide tariff of between 49 and 69 euros per month.
This means that the operators would hardly have any leeway to enforce higher fares.
Since the offer depends on additional subsidies from the federal states, it is unclear whether it will actually come about.
So far, only a few transport associations have committed themselves to planned tariffs.
Deutsche Bahn passengers will also have to be prepared for a fare increase this winter, as board member Michael Peterson made clear on Wednesday.
He referred to the sharp increase in energy costs.
"Of course we will have to raise prices," said Peterson on the sidelines of the presentation of a new train in Berlin.
Deutsche Bahn will inform you about the increase at the end of the month.
Calculated over the year, the group expects additional energy costs of around two billion euros.
The prices usually increase when the timetable changes in mid-December.
A fare increase of an average of 4 percent has already been announced for Deutsche Bahn's regional transport outside of transport associations and national tariffs.
ani/dpa
