The popular 9-euro monthly ticket for public transport, tested since June in Germany, has saved 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions according to official data, while calls for its expansion are mounting.
This ticket, which allows the national use of trains, subways, trams and regional and suburban buses, avoided emitting this amount of 1.8 million tons of CO2 because many travelers left their cars in the garage, according to calculations by the association German public transport VDV published. on Monday.
Among the users of the 9 euro ticket, which will disappear on Wednesday at midnight, 10% indicated that they had given up at least one trip a week usually made by car, according to the association that has carried out a study since June on the rate of 6,000 people interviewed per week.
52 million tickets sold
In total, about 52 million tickets were sold and ten million people who already had a monthly subscription also benefited, according to the VDV. The inhabitants of rural areas have benefited little from it, due to the lack of an adequate transport offer.
This experimental measure decided by the coalition government was intended to compensate for the impact on consumers of the increase in energy prices after the war in Ukraine.
Building on the success of this system, transport ministers from Germany’s regions called on Friday for the coalition government of Social Democratic Chancellor (SPD) Olaf Scholz to propose a measure to replace the 9-euro note, financed by the ‘State .
But this appeal, broadcast in the population, ran into the refusal due to budgetary issues from the Berlin Ministries of Transport and Finance, both in the hands of the Liberals (FDP).
The SPD parliamentary group, for its part, offers a 49-euro ticket valid throughout the country for local transport, dividing the ticket equally between the federal government and those of the regions, according to the popular daily Bild.
The city-state of Berlin, also led by the SPD, wants to extend the ticket to 9 euros until the end of the year, according to local radio RBB.
Source: BFM TV
