Berlin It would be the so-called “shot in the knee”: Loyal local transport customers cancel their annual tickets in order to get the discount ticket for bus and train decided by the federal government. Instead of more, there would be fewer customers in local transport.
A monthly ticket will soon only cost nine euros, if only for three months. So 27 euros instead of 190 euros – which subscriber doesn’t get weak?
Also with the customers. On Wednesday evening, the association representatives of the industry and company bosses such as the head of the Berlin transport company, Eva Kreienkamp, or the regional head of Deutsche Bahn AG, Jörg Sandvoß, had a consultation. “The subscription customers are just jumping off,” said participants in the group. All reported: “The telephone hotlines are running hot.”
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The group quickly agreed: Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) must make it clear once again that subscribers should of course benefit from the discount just as much as those who are hoping to switch from car to bus and train – if it comes at all.
The request for clear communication is by no means the only thing the industry has written in the minister’s task book. In a letter that is available to the Handelsblatt, they demand unequivocal measures, without which the limited discount ticket should not exist. The simplest is probably the question of the start date. The industry considers June 1 “to be realistic, provided that the relevant framework conditions have been defined in good time”.
Wissing’s dream of a digital ticket shattered
The companies are thus opposing Minister Wissing, who after a visit to Schleswig-Holstein had promised May 1st as the start. Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) from North Rhine-Westphalia has also pleaded for the appointment. There are state elections in both federal states in May, and the ticket could create a good atmosphere in the final sprint of the election campaign. in both countries, the FDP governs with the CDU.
The other “framework conditions” that the industry demands are even more challenging than the date. They are likely to mean a few more weeks of work: the federal government must assume the costs in advance, after all the companies lose ticket revenue, which even Minister Wissing estimates at at least 2.5 billion euros.
The federal government must transfer the money to the federal states by the beginning of May so that they can also forward it to the companies “immediately at the start time”, the Association of German Transport Companies demands in the letter. Otherwise there was a risk of “bankruptcies”. In the industry it was said: “The question of liquidity is crucial. If the money flows, we can implement the ticket within four weeks.”
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The industry also wants the federal government to pay for the administrative work involved. While the federal states spoke out in favor of a zero-euro ticket at a special conference last Friday in order to minimize the effort, the industry continues to believe that the nine-euro ticket proposed by the federal government is the better solution. Otherwise there would be another billion hole.
They also refute the claim made by Minister Wissing, who had brought up a digital ticket as an unbureaucratic and simple solution. “I don’t think it makes sense to print extra tickets for this or to switch ticket machines,” said the FDP politician. This is not legally possible, however, it said in the industry. After all, people without a mobile phone or internet must also be able to buy a ticket – i.e. via the machines or in a branch. “Everyone must be able to buy a ticket, even in cash and anonymously,” the industry said. The effort is correspondingly “massive”.
The vast majority of companies are in favor of creating a nationwide solution. Anyone with a discount ticket could use local transport, in Schwerin as well as in Saarbrücken – and also travel across the republic with regional rail transport for nine euros. Long-distance rail and long-distance buses would lose out.
The federal government must observe European state aid law
And with that there is another problem: European law on state aid and the question of whether the cheap ticket is a subsidy that violates European law. After all, it is an enormous discount campaign in favor of a means of transport. “There are still many detailed questions to be clarified, but we’re not that far yet,” said the industry.
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Finally, the “details” also include other big chunks: From the point of view of the industry, Minister Wissing even has to change laws. The authorities of the federal states approve the tariffs of the local transport companies. Something like this takes time. The industry is therefore asking the federal government to “also ensure by May 1” that the Bundestag and Bundesrat adapt the Passenger Transport Act (PBefG) and the General Railway Act (AEG) accordingly.
“Only if the necessary liquidity of the companies is secured for the start of the measures and the still open but necessary decisions about the geographical scope, the price and solutions for the tariff approvals required under PBefG and AEG have been made,” the industry clarifies in its letter , “It is possible to put the desired offer into practice as mentioned above from June.”
The Federal Association of German Bus Companies has no less serious doubts. “The nine-euro ticket is doomed to fail without an effective and practical legal basis, along with a clearly clarified subsidy framework,” said Managing Director Christiane Leonhard. “The federal and state governments will have their hands full over the next few days and weeks to initiate legislation that clarifies this.”
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