Few people, long distances: Rural areas are difficult to provide with reliable local public transport.

That is why Deutsche Bahn now wants to expand its range of services with on-demand buses and shuttle services.

"We want to make regional transport at least as flexible and as attractive as the car," said Evelyn Palla, the group board member responsible for regional transport in Berlin.

"The plan is for us to transport around 200 million passengers in on-demand traffic by 2030." Every second kilometer in the country would then be handled using such a flexible service.

This should complement the existing public transport – and not replace it, as the railway manager emphasized.

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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Thiemo Heeg

Editor in Business.

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DB Regio has already gained initial experience with this flexible service.

There are currently 18 offers under the Clevershuttle name throughout Germany, for example in Chiemgau.

The number of passengers is still manageable, but that should change when the municipalities first include this type of on-call service as standard in their local transport offer and offer it as a regular alternative to buses and trains.

At least that's what DB Regio relies on.

For the municipalities, this is likely to be another large block of costs in local public transport: Such services are expensive and have so far been difficult to operate profitably.

This is hardly different for train and bus lines.

Public transport is already a multi-billion dollar subsidy business for the federal, state and local governments.

It could be an attractive offer

This could be an attractive offer for users: According to DB Regio, the price for these services should be based on the usual public transport tariffs.

They should be bookable via the online platform ioki.

The shuttle buses, which if necessary travel to virtual stops on a route, should therefore be significantly cheaper than taxis.

However, this does not involve any direct door-to-door service.

The costs for this on-demand operation could be drastically reduced if, as planned, autonomous minibuses can be used at some point.

"It's going to be a real game changer," said Palla.

DB Regio will soon be testing such vehicles as part of a pilot project in Darmstadt and in the Offenbach district.

During the test phase, one driver will still be on board.

At some point, however, cars will be able to drive alone on the road.

In an interview with the FAZ last year, the DB Regio boss proclaimed 2023 to be “a year of upheaval for local public transport”.

The South Tyrolean railway manager, who has been responsible for regional transport on the Group Executive Board since last July, sees Germany ahead: “While many people look to the USA when it comes to autonomous driving, we in Germany are already one step ahead.” Her vision: “People will also be able to travel in the countryside in such a way that they no longer miss their own car.” 55 million people live in the countryside, and the Group sees a great deal of potential there.

Palla should know — the 51-year-old is no newcomer to the industry.

She knows the business from Austria.

She worked for the Austrian Federal Railways for around eight years.

In February 2019 she moved to DB,

Every third person is dissatisfied

With the new on-demand offers, Deutsche Bahn wants to tackle a problem that has so far been a major obstacle to achieving climate goals: Many people in rural areas in particular use their own cars because the connection is not good enough.

One in three people in Germany is dissatisfied with the accessibility of buses and trains at their own place of residence, according to a representative study by the Kantar research institute commissioned by the Pro-Rail Alliance, BUND and the German Road Safety Council at the end of last year.

The majority of those surveyed would like the bus and train to run at significantly better intervals.

So far, little has happened in this area: more than three quarters of those surveyed criticize the fact that the number of departures has not improved or has even worsened over the past five years.