The parents' councils in numerous districts and cities in the region are demanding a kind of class ticket for local transport for school trips.

The introduction of a take-along rule should allow teachers to let the entire class ride on their state ticket free of charge.

The regulation should apply in addition to the student ticket.

The initiative comes from the Parents' Council of the City of Darmstadt, which is calling for an additional regulation for the state ticket for teachers at Hessian schools.

The take-along regulation is intended to enable pupils to travel free of charge on their teacher’s state ticket.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Numerous parents' councils have joined the initiative, which is also supported by the State Parents' Council in Hesse.

Not all students are in possession of a student ticket.

As a result, school trips for financially weaker families are associated with considerable costs.

This particularly affects families whose household income only just exceeds the limit for claiming support services.

The expansion of the state ticket as a "class ticket" strengthens the opportunities for social participation, according to a statement.

Children could learn climate-friendly behavior

The parents' councils also hope that the children will learn climate-friendly mobility behavior through the introduction of such a take-along regulation.

In particular, students who have little contact with public transport in their free time would become familiar with buses and trains through school trips.

Volker Heitmann, Chairman of the State Parents' Council, also sees a contribution to climate protection.

In addition, the class ticket is “a pragmatic possibility that can be set up at short notice to enable all pupils to take part in school trips and to introduce them to public transport”.

It should not be the case that schoolchildren are prevented from taking part in class trips because of the high travel costs.

The support associations are overburdened at many schools and can no longer cover the travel costs.

The State Parents' Council expressly supports the initiative for a class ticket, but continues to demand a free student ticket for all students and a corresponding change in the school law.

The state should bear the costs for this.

Heitmann does not accept the argument that the costs are too high.

For each student, it must currently be checked whether he is entitled to the student ticket at no cost.

"This administrative effort is high, so that the bottom line is that hardly any tax funds are saved."

Criticized aspects of the student ticket

The student ticket was introduced in the 2017/18 school year and costs 365 euros per year.

It applies to all buses, suburban trains, trams, underground trains and regional trains in Hesse and Mainz.

Pupils who have a particularly long way to school can have the costs reimbursed.

The limit is two kilometers for primary schools and three kilometers for secondary schools.

The student ticket is also free for students who have a particularly dangerous way to school.

Heitmann considers this regulation to be extremely bureaucratic and also unfair.

Each student must be checked how long his way to school is.

In addition, the students used the ticket not only for the way to school and back, but also in their free time and on weekends to meet up in the afternoon or to go to physical education or music lessons.

It is therefore simply unfair that the ticket is free for some students and involves high costs for others.

Pupils with a shorter way to school often do without the pupil ticket and are therefore not introduced to local transport.

It also makes no sense for ecological reasons.