What follows the 9 euro ticket? The Greens have now presented a concept that provides for two price categories: a regional ticket for 29 euros and a ticket that could also be used for long-distance transport. The party also sees the financing secured.
In the discussion about a successor regulation for the nine-euro ticket, the Greens are proposing two cheap tickets for everyone: a regional ticket for 29 euros per month and a Germany ticket for 49 euros per month. This emerges from a joint paper by the party, parliamentary group and North Rhine-Westphalian Transport Minister Oliver Krischer, which was presented to the AFP news agency on Friday. The Greens want to finance the tickets by “dismantling” the company car privilege.
The ARD capital studio first reported on the paper. The Greens call their proposal a contribution to the debate. They refer to the success of the nine-euro ticket. Initial evaluations suggested that people had actually switched from cars to buses and trains, so there were also positive effects for the climate.
The Greens want a “seamless” follow-up solution for the nine-euro ticket, which is only valid until the end of August. According to the paper, the 29-euro ticket they proposed should be aimed at commuters. The prize gives “real incentives” for switching to bus and train and is particularly suitable for people with a small budget. It should apply “at least nationwide” – i.e. in the respective federal state, but also for regions such as Berlin-Brandenburg or Bremen-Hamburg-Lower Saxony. The Greens refer to a proposal by the ecological Verkehrsclub Deutschland, which proposed eight regions.
If you also want to travel nationwide with the ticket, you should pay 20 euros more according to the proposal of the Greens. The offer of a 49-euro ticket could “completely break through the jungle of tariffs”, advertise the Greens. Dealing with the “often confusing pricing would come to an end for many people”.
The crux of a successor plan for the nine-euro ticket is always the financing. The federal government spent 2.5 billion euros on the loss of revenue for the federal states responsible for public transport in the three months of June, July and August. The Association of German Transport Companies has calculated that a 69-euro ticket it proposes would require an additional two billion euros per year.
The Greens propose the abolition of the company car privilege: It must “among other things” take the CO2 emissions of vehicles more into account. The additional income could flow “seamlessly” into the financing of the cheap tickets. “Instead of a concession that primarily benefits high earners, we are enabling a transport policy measure with a broad impact that also provides an effective incentive for climate protection,” the paper says.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) recently said that there could be no follow-up regulation for the nine-euro ticket. The responsible Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing (FDP), praises the ticket as a success, but recently said that the federal states must see “how they want to finance it”.
