10 July 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne: A bus and a tram of the Cologne Transport Authority (KVB) are at the Neumarkt stop. Increased corona incidences, of all things, during the holiday season are causing problems for transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia – some bus and train failures are the result. Photo: Thomas Banneyer/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The federal and state governments agreed on Friday to start the 49-euro monthly ticket on May 1st. “What many wish for will become reality on May 1st,” said the chairman of the conference of transport ministers, NRW transport minister Oliver Krischer (Greens), on Friday after the meeting of a federal-state working group.
Sales of nationwide tickets for buses and trains in regional transport should therefore start on April 3rd, he said. Not only has progress been made on these issues, “but a final agreement has been reached on the really important points,” said Krischer.
However, the agreement is still subject to the EU Commission approving the 49-euro ticket. The project concerns state aid issues which the Commission is currently examining.
According to Krischer, the federal and state governments also reached agreement on the so-called job ticket. Employers should therefore be given the opportunity to buy the ticket with a five percent discount. The prerequisite is that they pass it on to their employees at a discount of at least 25 percent.
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According to dpa information, no agreement was reached on the question of how digital the ticket will be, at least initially. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is aiming for an exclusively digital ticket. The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) recently called for the possibility for transport associations to be able to issue a paper ticket, at least temporarily. Not all associations are therefore able to offer a digital ticket.
Most recently, criticism of Wissing had been raised, especially from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The federal government, in turn, had repeatedly referred to the primary responsibility of the federal states.
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