The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is under pressure.

Although the number of passengers rose again slightly last year, revenue fell again.

In the pre-Corona year 2019, around 808 million people were still traveling by bus and train in the Rhine-Main area, the number fell to 524 million in the following year and rose to 565 million in 2021 (a drop of still 30 percent in comparison to 2019).

In the same period, RMV revenues fell from EUR 970 million (2019) to EUR 762 million (2020) to EUR 759 million.

RMV Managing Director Knut Ringat explains this development by saying that the holders of season tickets – who pay a flat rate – are using buses and trains more frequently again, but the sale of single and day tickets still leaves a lot to be desired.

Ralph Euler

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung, responsible for the Rhein-Main section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

  • Follow I follow

Due to higher personnel and operating costs, Ringat expects an increasing need for financing.

In the next five years, the RMV will need almost five billion euros from the federal, state and local authorities;

that is 1.6 billion euros more than in the same period before.

Against the background of the transport turnaround that is being sought across all parties in the federal and state governments, Ringat is building on the fact that politicians will not let the transport associations down.

Environmentally friendly mobility cannot simply be switched on and off; rather, long-term thinking, planning and investment is required.

The year 2022 is fully financed in terms of the RMV, said Ringat;

for the following years must still be calculated.

"That is a task that we have to solve."

The extent to which passenger numbers would increase again and when RMV would "return to its former strengths" cannot be predicted, Ringat said on Tuesday at the RMV's annual press conference.

In any case, in order to achieve the climate protection goals set by the European Union and decided by the federal government, significantly more people would have to switch to local public transport in the next few years, said the RMV managing director.

His goal remains to increase the number of passengers by 30 percent by 2030 compared to the pre-Corona period.

Discounts and new RMV app

From next year there will be a new discount offer in the RMV in order to turn previous occasional bus and train users into long-term drivers.

The offer, which goes by the working title "Basic Card", works in a similar way to a BahnCard: Users purchase the card for a fixed price and then receive a discount for every journey they make.

Season ticket holders should receive a price reduction for connecting journeys outside the tariff area.

However, the exact structure is not yet clear, and the RMV supervisory board still has to approve the plans.

A new edition of the RMV app is expected to be available next summer.

Customers can then use the app to book taxis, rental cars, e-scooters or rental bikes;

in the long term also visits to restaurants, sports and leisure activities or cultural events.

The app also makes it easier to buy tickets and offers the user information about the occupancy of trains and - taking into account, for example, e-scooters for sections of the route - the fastest way from A to B.

On demand and autonomous

From December, 27 hydrogen-powered trains are to be in service in the Taunus, a big step on the way to decarbonizing RMV transport.

In addition, the association wants to expand its "successful model" with on-demand buses, which can be requested by telephone or via the Internet.

Ringat announced that such offers will also be available in Hanau, in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hofheim and in Kelsterbach this year.

In addition, the aim is to have on-demand buses running throughout the entire RMV area by the middle of the decade;

increasingly operated automatically, i.e. without a driver.

The RMV has already carried out successful tests with autonomously driving shuttle buses – albeit with an operator on board to be on the safe side and with a maximum speed of 15 kilometers per hour – at the Mainkai in Frankfurt, on the premises of the Helios Clinic in Wiesbaden, in the Eberbach monastery in the Rheingau and in Bad Soden-Salmünster.

On the company premises of the Frankfurt Transport Authority (VGF), a self-driving bus made its rounds without an operator.

In the summer, autonomous shuttle buses are to be tested in a district of Frankfurt.

In routine continuous use, however, these vehicles would then have to travel at higher speeds.