The German transport associations were surprised by the announcement by the federal government to offer a monthly ticket for local public transport for nine euros.

The only thing that was certain on Friday was that there should be such an offer in the foreseeable future, but when exactly and under what conditions remained unclear.

The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) said it was not yet possible to say how the initiative of the traffic light coalition announced on Thursday could be implemented in the federal government.

However, the government's plans are "open and positive", said RMV Managing Director Knut Ringat on request.

Ralph Euler

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

  • Follow I follow

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

As a response to the high energy prices, the government wants the nine-euro offer to be limited to three months.

The federal states are promised financial support so that they can implement the price reduction.

According to initial calculations from the Berlin Senate, the introduction of a cheaper public transport ticket could cost the city of Berlin alone around 50 million euros.

For the RMV, the loss of a quarter of the annual income would mean a minus of almost 200 million euros.

Managing director Ringat assumes that the federal government will bear all costs associated with the campaign.

This included compensating for loss of income and costs for additional trips as well as the expense of organizational processing.

Under no circumstances, according to Ringat, should the monthly ticket offer have a negative impact on the already difficult financial situation of transport companies and transport associations in view of rising energy costs and lower income due to corona.

He also expects that the around one million regular RMV customers alone would be “appropriately considered” in the special campaign.

From the point of view of the Hessian Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Die Grünen), it is important that the relief is "customer-oriented" and that the transport associations are not overburdened in terms of organization.

In the best case, a major public transport campaign

The transport associations must now examine how they can offer their customers a discounted monthly ticket as sensibly as possible.

Particular attention should be paid to those who already own season tickets.

They could now come up with the idea of ​​canceling their subscription in order to buy the nine-euro ticket for the next three months instead.

A solution would therefore be conceivable, for example, in which the validity of season tickets already purchased would be extended by three months.

In the best case, the RMV can turn the discount campaign into a major public transport campaign, win new customers and encourage them to switch to buses and trains permanently.

In this sense, the German Environmental Aid praises the announced "climate ticket" as the right signal, but also with the desire to keep the ticket price permanently low.

One industry that has felt the effects of high fuel prices particularly badly is freight forwarders.

One of them is Agotrans Logistik from Rodgau.

Instead of 15 percent, diesel costs made up 25 percent of freight costs, reports their managing director Roland Wernig.

The fact that the federal government now temporarily wants to reduce the energy tax on diesel by 14 cents per liter is “a selective improvement”.

Smaller freight forwarders in particular are having problems

However, the freight forwarder will not really be relieved.

This is also due to the fact that the freight service providers have already been able to pass on some of the fuel costs to their customers.

A frequently used instrument for this is the so-called diesel floater.

It is calculated based on an average price for an agreed period.

If the fuel price is higher for a longer period of time, customers automatically have to pay more.

These, in turn, are likely to pass these additional costs on to their end customers, the consumers - which further fuels inflation.

The freight forwarding and logistics association of Hesse/Rhineland-Palatinate reports that many customers from industry and trade have agreed to the freight forwarders in terms of price.

"There is a lot of understanding for the situation," says association manager Thorsten Hölser.

He praises the reduction in energy taxes.

"We will see whether it is sufficient in the end." Smaller freight forwarders in particular have liquidity problems because they pre-finance high diesel costs long before customers pay their bills.

Agotrans forwarder Wernig doesn't see a big problem in the price of diesel anyway.

The delivery problems at manufacturers and the increasingly expensive raw materials are significantly more burdensome.

Tires, for example, are now 50 percent more expensive, and he has to pay 30,000 to 40,000 euros more for a new tractor.