Stendal district rows back on 49-euro ticket
With its decision not to recognize the 49-euro ticket, the district of Stendal is causing a stir throughout Germany. It is feared that other districts will follow suit. Instead, the decision has now been reversed.
The district of Stendal is not opting out of the 49-euro ticket after all. A special district council decided that the Deutschlandticket will continue to be recognized beyond the end of the year, as district administrator Patrick Puhlmann announced. At the beginning of December, the district council had decided otherwise. As a result, the ticket would no longer be valid on buses there from January 1.
Saxony-Anhalt's Minister for Infrastructure and Digital Affairs, Lydia Hüskens, has now spoken of the good news. This means that the Deutschlandticket will remain valid throughout the state. "That is ultimately one of its greatest advantages."
Hüskens pointed out that the districts are sufficiently well-funded when it comes to public bus transport. "The state is putting a lot of money into this." As early as January, all districts and independent cities received a total of 10 million euros in addition to the approximately 60 million euros in lump-sum allocations under the Public Transport Act, which can be used to offset cost increases and revenue shortfalls in public bus transport in the short term. The district of Stendal alone accounted for around 450,000 euros of this amount.
Following the district's withdrawal, there were fears that other districts could follow suit. Most federal states are relying on the fact that districts and transport companies are bound to the Deutschlandticket by resolutions within the transport associations. It is unlikely that an entire transport association will withdraw from the Deutschlandticket - but depending on its size, it is not impossible.
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The initial decision by Stendal district to not acknowledge the 49-euro ticket on their local transport system caused concern among German railroad officials, fearing a domino effect. However, the district later reversed this decision, ensuring that the Germany ticket remains valid in Saxony-Anhalt's buses.
Source: www.ntv.de
