An agreement has almost been reached with the federal states on such a “Germany ticket”, said the SPD politician on Tuesday at a citizens’ dialogue in Gifhorn, Lower Saxony. “Tomorrow is the day when it should finally succeed.”
On Wednesday, the prime ministers of the federal states will meet with Scholz in the Berlin Chancellery to discuss relieving the burden on citizens in the energy crisis. The transport ministers of the federal and state governments have already agreed in principle on the 49-euro ticket, but the financing of local and regional transport is disputed.
Scholz said that the federal government would subsidize the “Deutschlandticket” together with the federal states with three billion euros annually. “Regardless of this, we are in the process of expanding rail transport and have significantly increased the funds for this,” he said.
“Real Success”
The chancellor emphasized that the 9-euro ticket in the summer was “quite different from what everyone predicted, a real success”. The reason was not only the price, but also the uncomplicated ticket booking. A “nationwide, digitally bookable subscription ticket” is now planned, which should start at 49 euros. “We hope that a lot of people will do that,” emphasized the Chancellor. 150 citizens took part in the so-called “Chancellor Talks” in Gifhorn near Wolfsburg, who were able to ask him their questions for 90 minutes.
Baden-Württemberg’s Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) doubts that the planned nationwide local transport ticket can start at the turn of the year. When asked whether the 49-euro ticket would come in January, the Greens politician told the partner newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft (NBR): “Probably not.” The countries wanted to implement the ticket as quickly as possible. “It may not come until March 1st or April 1st.” Because the implementation is complex.
With a view to the federal-state summit this Wednesday, the minister also reiterated the call for more federal subsidies for local transport, which the states had made a condition for the ticket. “If the federal government refuses to increase the regionalization funds demanded by the states, we will unfortunately have to say ‘no’ to the ticket,” he told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
With annual costs of 588 euros, the “Deutschlandticket” would be significantly cheaper than the “Klimaticket Ö”, which was introduced in Austria last year and costs 1095 euros. However, the latter also applies to long-distance transport within Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
