The tricky budget situation has forced the Offenbach coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP to partially scale back the expansion of local public transport that had already been sought under the previous coalition with the participation of the CDU.

The concrete cuts, above all the planned elimination of line 106 and the abolition of the "Caritas/Buchrainweiher" stop, are causing severe criticism.

The Caritas Association Offenbach foresees serious consequences for the Caritas center.

Planned investments of 50 million euros are no longer justifiable because both savings meant that the city's largest facility for seniors, which currently houses 167 people, would be cut off from local public transport, says Michael Klein, director of Caritas Offenbach.

Jochen Remert

Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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The bus stop that still exists in the immediate vicinity of the center was still used by people who were mobile to get into the city, to visit friends and relatives.

Conversely, the center is easy to reach for relatives and for the more than 150 employees without a car.

The bus stop on Sprendlinger Landstraße offered as an alternative is unreasonable for some because it is around 800 meters away and can only be reached via a gravel road.

No other areas for new construction

In addition, this stop should no longer be served by local buses, but by express buses of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund.

In an interview with the FAZ, Caritas director Klein said on Monday that his house felt compelled to stop planning for an extensive replacement and extension of the now almost 50-year-old St. Ludwig nursing home if the city's attitude don't change anything that it doesn't look like at the moment.

This also applies to the planned establishment of a day care center in the center.

Such a major project, which has an investment volume of 40 million euros, is not justifiable without a functioning connection to local public transport, said Klein.

The same also applies to the new training and education center planned there next to the neighboring St. Elisabeth nursing home, in which another 10 million euros should be invested.

The decoupling of the center from local traffic is also so tricky because there is no other area for a new building in Offenbach because of the aircraft noise protection zones.

151 jobs at risk

For this reason, the city itself certified the need for an extension at this point to Caritas in order to receive an exceptional permit.

Actually, this area is also subject to corresponding restrictions.

The city is now preventing investment in social infrastructure, which it considers necessary.

This means that the existing 151 jobs are at risk, as well as 80 new ones that should be created with the expansion.

The Offenbach mobility department head and mayor Sabine Groß from the Greens replied on Monday when asked that it was not a pleasure to have to cut back on local transport for budget reasons.

After all, she argued vehemently for the expansion of the offer in the previous coalition, in which the CDU was still involved, in order to be able to achieve the city's climate goals.

However, the cuts necessary due to the budgetary situation were not made lightly, but worked out with expert advice and on the basis of passenger counts.

Those who do not want the planned cuts would then have to say where they should be cut, for example at the expense of connecting residential areas and schools.

She would be very grateful if, for example, the CDU, which is currently sharply criticizing the austerity plans, would bring in their own proposals, said Groß.

The CDU speaks of "ideological predetermination" and accuses Groß of withholding the consulting firm's report on the savings instead of making it available to all city councilors who are to decide on the savings proposal on May 19.