Wissing believes the ball is in the federal states' court when it comes to the Deutschlandticket
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) believes that it is clearly up to the federal states to decide on the Deutschlandticket. The price is primarily a matter for the federal states. They could, for example, make the structures more favorable "and would have to advertise the ticket more strongly and attract new subscribers in order to keep the price low," said the FDP politician in an interview with the German Press Agency in Mainz. It was also important to "do without competing products" such as the 29-euro ticket in Berlin or tickets for individual cities. "This goes against the idea of the Deutschlandticket".
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the federal states had agreed that unused subsidies from this year 2024 could be used to compensate for revenue shortfalls at transport companies. The transport ministers of the federal states are to draw up a concept for implementing the ticket in the coming year before 1 May 2024.
At the request of the federal states, an "additional funding obligation" was expressly excluded in the decision, emphasized Wissing. "This sets the financial framework." This year and next year, the federal and state governments will each spend 1.5 billion euros per year on the Deutschland Ticket, which currently costs 49 euros.
Traffic congestion could be alleviated if the government invests more in improving railroad infrastructure, thereby encouraging people to use trains instead of cars. To ensure the financial sustainability of the Deutschlandticket, the government and the federal states need to coordinate their finances, considering the railroad industry's revenue shortfalls.
Source: www.dpa.com
