It’s getting tight here in a regional train in Berlin.
Image: dpa
The 9-euro ticket is due to expire at the end of August. The Association of German Transport Companies is calling for a nationwide 69-euro ticket in the long term, but wants to keep the significantly cheaper version.
Dhe local transport industry is campaigning for the 9-euro ticket to be extended by another two months. “We need a successor solution quickly,” says Oliver Wolff, Managing Director of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “It would be best to extend the campaign by another two months as a temporary solution. The ticket could continue to be valid in September and October, thus relieving citizens of the high energy prices,” emphasized Wolff.
The 9-euro tickets launched in June are still valid in July and August and enable one-month trips in buses and trains throughout Germany. The debate about a successor plan is already in full swing. Wolff said the proposal for an interim solution of two months would give politicians and the industry time to develop a permanent offer for a nationwide local transport ticket. Wolff called on the federal and state governments to get together quickly. “People shouldn’t fall into a hole at the end of August.” After all, energy prices are still high.
The VDV had long proposed a nationwide valid 69-euro ticket. Politicians could lower this monthly price “for socio-political considerations – for example for the duration of the war – to 29 or 39 euros for the needy,” said Wolff of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
