In Germany, the “Deutschland Ticket” at 49 euros per year should help travelers in the face of inflation and encourage them to leave the car in the garage. A widely welcomed initiative which should meet its public, except in regions such as south-eastern Bavaria, for lack of sufficiently developed infrastructure.
Once an hour, the train stops in Dingolfing, Lower Bavaria, a German town of almost 20,000 inhabitants. But with the exception of travelers working in Munich, 100 kilometers away, there are never many people going up or down.
The government has launched a “Deutschland Ticket”, widely acclaimed and available from May 1 and which allows unlimited use of buses, trams, metro and trains, with the exception of ICE, the German TGVs. As a way to promote purchasing power, weighed down by inflation, and to encourage Germans to leave their cars in the garage. Alas: in the south-east of Bavaria, near the Czech and Austrian borders, they will probably be very few to take out a subscription. Because the train and bus network is too underdeveloped.
The region is the least well served by train
It’s been a long time since Tom, a 30-year-old computer scientist, last took the train. “As soon as you want to go more than three kilometers away, you have to take the car. Otherwise, it’s not possible. At home or in the district, there are only two stations. There There are buses, but they run once a day to the most remote villages. For example, my girlfriend lives 30 kilometers away and if I wanted to go there by public transport, it would take me eight hours. is 30 minutes.”
The region holds an unenviable record, being the least well served in Germany by trains and buses. 100,000 people live in the district and for two out of three inhabitants, it is impossible to reach public transport without a car, regrets Marco Kraguli, representative of the ProBahn user association. “Ideally, buses and trains should be no more than a ten minute walk away. For people, including some areas, it takes an hour and sometimes even more. We know that those who start their journey by car will very often end it by car. To achieve our climate goals. We need to rely more on public transport.”
In Lower Bavaria, only one in five inhabitants travels by public transport. This is twice less than in the rest of Germany. The fault of a network that the regional authorities have neglected, explains Toni SchuberlBavarian Green MP.
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“We only bet on the car: the bus and the train only existed, so to speak, for those who do not have a permit, deplores the MP. Secondary lines have been removed and the network abandoned. The order of priorities should have been reversed much earlier. The Bavarian government is wasting a lot of money on nonsensical projects, including road construction. This money would be much more useful for the railways.“
Bavaria is committed to improving services and connections. A bus project with stops on demand should soon see the light of day. But catching up will take years.