Bayern: Bayern does not want to pay for the 9-euro ticket

The 9-euro ticket expires at the end of August.

Bayern: Bayern does not want to pay for the 9-euro ticket

The 9-euro ticket expires at the end of August. The Greens in particular are pushing for a successor to the discount campaign. Bavaria's transport minister does not want to give any money from the Free State for this - and is receiving sharp criticism from the opposition.

Munich (dpa / lby) - Bavaria's Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter does not want to pay for a possible follow-up offer for the 9-euro ticket - and is sharply criticized for this by the opposition. "Why doesn't the CSU want to get involved? So that everyone in Bavaria can continue to drive?" Wrote the deputy parliamentary group leader of the SPD, Ruth Müller, on Twitter. "Or does the CSU even want to make its own, even better public transport ticket "only for Bavarians in Bavaria"? Or is it just late-pubescent defiance?" Green member of parliament Jürgen Mistol, member of the transport committee, described Bernreiter as a "total failure".

The CSU politician told the German Press Agency on Saturday that "in this extraordinary situation, the federal government must ensure further relief for the citizens - and exclusively the federal government". The states have already paid for a number of reliefs from the federal government, "although they did not initiate them".

Other countries, on the other hand, signaled their willingness to provide co-financing. The chairwoman of the conference of transport ministers, Maike Schaefer (Greens), said that the federal states were willing to co-finance a follow-up offer to the 9-euro ticket. However, a prerequisite for such a decision would be facts that Federal Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has so far failed to provide, said the Bremen mobility senator to the editorial network Germany (RND).

The limited 9-euro ticket was introduced by the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP to relieve people in Germany in view of rising prices. It is valid from June to August on local and regional buses and trains and costs 9 euros per month. Even before the special ticket was launched, there was a dispute about the financing. Resistance came from Bavaria, among others, for a long time. The federal government is contributing 2.5 billion euros to the current discount campaign to compensate for the loss of revenue from transport providers. The federal states are generally demanding more federal money for public transport.

"The federal states have already proven with the Corona rescue package that they are basically willing to participate substantially," said Schaefer. The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Transport, Oliver Krischer, made a similar statement: "We are ready to talk about a short-term extension and a permanent successor arrangement," said the Greens politician to the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung".

As open questions, Schaefer named the costs for a follow-up ticket, whether this is valid nationwide and how high the state share should be. "If Minister Wissing wants to have a follow-up ticket ready in September, he should deliver now as soon as possible," said the Greens politician. Wissing is open to continuing the 9-euro ticket. According to his ministry, the willingness of the federal states to contribute financially is a decisive factor for a successor model.

However, this willingness does not seem to exist in the Free State. Transport Minister Bernreiter said he would welcome bus and train becoming more attractive. "But this requires investments to strengthen ongoing operations." The federal government must therefore increase the so-called regionalization funds. "In principle, a 365-euro ticket would also be desirable in terms of the traffic turnaround." He also called for the tank discount to be continued, since people in rural areas in particular benefit little or not at all from the 9-euro ticket.

In a concept paper, leading politicians from the Greens had proposed two tickets as a successor to the 9-euro ticket: a regional ticket for 29 euros and a nationwide ticket for 49 euros a month. Both should only apply to local and regional transport. For financing, the Greens want to curtail the company car privilege, which companies can use to deduct the costs of company cars from taxes. Above all, CO2 emissions should be taken more into account. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) described this proposal as "left-wing polemics".