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State wants to make levy for public transport in municipalities possible

The state wants to give local authorities the opportunity to finance the expansion of local public transport with a local transport levy. Cities and municipalities are to be able to introduce a so-called mobility pass for this purpose. This is the result of a draft of the state mobility law,...

A Deutsche Bahn double-decker regional train passes through a station. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
A Deutsche Bahn double-decker regional train passes through a station. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Traffic - State wants to make levy for public transport in municipalities possible

The state wants to give local authorities the opportunity to finance the expansion of local public transport with a local transport levy. Cities and municipalities are to be able to introduce a so-called mobility pass for this purpose. This is the result of a draft of the state mobility law, which was first reported on by Südwestrundfunk.

Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) wants to allow municipalities with a population of 20,000 or more four different variants of a local transport levy. Either all residents could be asked to pay or all car owners. Another option would be a levy on employers, who would have to pay a certain amount per head if they have ten or more employees. The fourth option would be a toll - but this could not be levied on freeways and main roads. Local authorities would be able to decide on the amount of the charge themselves.

In return for the charge, citizens would have to receive a credit for the use of local public transport, according to the draft bill. They could then redeem this for the purchase of season tickets. In addition, citizens may only be asked to pay if "an adequate local public transport service is available that they can use." According to the draft law, this is the case if local public transport is a reasonable alternative to the car at "normal traffic times". The criteria for this are, for example, the frequency at peak times and the distance to the nearest stop.

The Ministry of Transport announced that the law is currently being coordinated between the departments of the state government. It is not possible to estimate when the law will be finally discussed and passed by the state parliament.

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Source: www.stern.de

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