BUND: Berlin's 29-euro ticket is irresponsible

BUND environmentalists have sharply criticized the 29-euro public transport ticket planned for Berlin. "The path taken by the black-red state coalition shows a great irresponsibility, the effects of which will be felt not only in Berlin, but nationwide," explained Tilmann Heuser, Managing Director of BUND Berlin. The project is a burden on the financing of local transport and the success of the Deutschlandticket.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had previously argued along similar lines after the Berlin Senate agreed last week to reintroduce the ticket for the AB fare zone. Berlin had previously introduced the ticket on October 1, 2022, but abolished it again for the introduction of the Deutschlandticket on May 1, 2023.

"Discounts better for certain target groups"

BUND believes that the Senate should have used this ticket as a basis to provide relief for people on low incomes with targeted offers, as other federal states have done. It points to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where there is a ticket for senior citizens for 29 euros per month. In Hamburg, there are target group-specific discounts, including a free school ticket for the coming school year. In Berlin, commuting employees, who have already had to spend noticeably less on local transport since the introduction of the Deutschlandticket and the cheaper Jobticket, are now being relieved, criticizes BUND.

"The price alone will not bring about a turnaround in transportation. The offer must also be right," BUND continues. However, the watering can subsidy for the 29-euro ticket is so expensive that a three-digit million amount is to be saved in the budget to finance public transport.

The example of Hamburg shows what is possible with the Deutschlandticket. There, 38 percent of the population have a Deutschlandticket, in Berlin it is just under a quarter. It is now to be expected that hundreds of thousands of people will switch to the 29-euro ticket, which would also mean a considerable setback for the Deutschlandticket. Moreover, it is already on shaky ground, as shown by the difficult discussions about its further financing at the Conference of Transport Ministers.

"Credibility problem"

Last week, the transport ministers of the federal states agreed that the price of 49 euros should remain for this year. However, this would depend on whether the federal government fulfills its obligation and transfers the unspent funds from 2023 to 2024. It has not yet been decided whether the price will remain the same in 2025.

Bavaria's Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) sharply criticized Berlin's special approach last week. He told the Tagesspiegel newspaper: "In Bavaria, we can only maintain public transport services by reaching deep into the state coffers, while Berlin, as the main recipient of the state financial equalization scheme, uses Bavarian money to finance a total discount for all passengers." Wissing said on RTL that Berlin had a credibility problem if the state government demanded more money from the federal government for the 49-euro ticket and at the same time introduced an even cheaper regional ticket.

The 29-euro ticket was a key election promise of the Berlin SPD. State chairman Raed Saleh was primarily concerned with relieving the burden on people in the face of inflation. This would be greater with the 29-euro ticket than with the Deutschlandticket. However, unlike the Deutschlandticket, the Berlin ticket is only available as an annual subscription. The Berlin Greens believe it would make more sense to offer a discounted Deutschlandticket for certain groups, similar to Hamburg.

(anw)