The popular monthly ticket at 9 euros in public transport, tested since June in Germany, has saved 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions according to official data. This ticket, which allows nationwide use of regional and local trains, metros, trams and buses, avoided these emissions because many travelers left their cars in the garage, according to calculations by the German Association of VDV public transport published on Monday 29 August.
Among the users of the 9 euro ticket, which will disappear on Wednesday at midnight, 10% indicated that they had given up at least one trip per week usually made by car, according to the association which has carried out a study since June at the rate of 6 000 people questioned per week. In total, about 52 million tickets were sold and ten million people who already had a monthly subscription also benefited, according to the VDV.
The inhabitants of rural areas have benefited little from it, for lack of an adequate transport offer. This experimental measure decided by the coalition government was intended to offset the impact on consumers of soaring energy prices in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Building on the success of this system, the transport ministers of the regions of Germany called on the coalition government of Social Democratic Chancellor (SPD) Olaf Scholz on Friday to propose a measure taking over from the 9-euro ticket, financed by the ‘State. But this call, relayed in the population, comes up against the refusal for budgetary questions of the Ministries of Transport and Finance in Berlin, both held by the Liberals (FDP).
The parliamentary group of the SPD, for its part, offers a ticket of 49 euros valid throughout the country for local transport, by sharing the bill equally between the federal government and those of the regions, according to the popular daily Bild. The city-state of Berlin, also led by the SPD, wants to extend the ticket to 9 euros until the end of the year, according to local radio RBB.