Peter Wirth wears dark sunglasses and frowns, his index finger points to the screen of a ticket machine.

The device shows the new price for a single ticket in Frankfurt: 3.40 euros – that's how much a single journey by bus and train in the city has cost since the beginning of the year.

That is 55 cents or 19 percent more than before.

The price for a day ticket increases by 31 percent to 6.65 euros.

This brings the fares previously subsidized by the city into line with the standard tariff of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV).

Wirth, who became known as "Bahnbabo", comments on the price increase on Twitter with the words: "Now my colleagues and I will have to listen to a lot for a while." Wirth, who is running as a non-party candidate in the mayoral election,

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Ralph Euler

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

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Another politician, who is already sitting in the Römer, replies in a good mood: "Not from me.

I have a tax-financed VGF season ticket that is valid for five years.

Just like all politicians," writes Nico Wehnemann from the satirical party "The Party" and adds a smiley.

City councilor Daniela Mehler-Würzbach, who is running for the left in the mayoral election, also travels for free.

But she looks at the price increase from a different angle.

She finds the increase of 19 percent “completely insane and a fatal signal to everyone who only occasionally relies on public transport”.

Uwe Becker, who is striving for the mayor's office in Frankfurt for the CDU, also criticizes the price increase: 3.40 euros are completely disproportionate, Becker writes on Twitter: "This is definitely not how the traffic turnaround works." In the accompanying photo, he also poses next to a ticket machine and points to the displayed fare with a serious expression on his face.

Reduce fares for the socially needy

On the other hand, Wolfgang Siefert, the personal advisor to the Frankfurt mobility department head Stefan Majer (Die Grünen), points to a general realignment of fare subsidies in Frankfurt, from which significantly more people have benefited than before.

Subsidizing occasional passengers instead of regular customers makes little sense if you want to attract and keep customers, says Siefert.

The reduction in the price of single tickets and day tickets, which was pushed by former mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD), cost the city more than seven million euros last year.

These "Feldmann subsidies" were abolished by the Roman coalition of Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt in order to instead lower fares for people in need.

Since the beginning of the year, holders of the Frankfurt Pass issued to low-income earners have been able to purchase RMV season tickets for only around 30 percent of the normal price.

This group of people can, for example, purchase the Hessenticket for schoolchildren and senior citizens for EUR 109.50 per year instead of the previous EUR 365.

But occasional passengers also have a savings option after the turn of the year: the new RMV discount card introduced on January 1st.

The "Spar-Pass" works in the same way as the Deutsche Bahn Bahncard: bought for ten euros a month, the card offers a 25 percent discount on single and day tickets.

The offer is not tied to one person, but can be passed on to friends and relatives.

According to the city's mobility department, with the "Spar-Pass" a single trip in Frankfurt will in future only cost 2.55 euros and a day pass will cost 5 euros.

Criticism not only from politicians

The new Germany ticket for 49 euros a month, which is valid everywhere on local public transport, is also expected to be introduced in April.

The combination of Deutschlandticket, RMV-Spar-Pass and Frankfurt-Pass significantly improves the tariff landscape and thus increases the chances of a successful turnaround in transport, says Wolfgang Siefert.

Against this background, he considers the increase for single tickets and day tickets that are purchased without a "Saver Pass" to be quite appropriate.

Especially since the prices for children's tickets (six to 14 years) remained stable.

Nevertheless, the enormous increase in single fares in Frankfurt is not only a source of criticism from politicians.

Many citizens of the city are also venting their anger on social networks: "2 trips result in a pack of cigarettes," calculates one.

"3.40 euros for a single trip in Frankfurt." Unfortunately, when it comes to pricing local transport, it is a common strategy to make season tickets cheaper or less expensive and to scare off occasional drivers even more with steep price increases, according to a user on Twitter.

And the "Bahnbabo" Wirth reports from his everyday life: "Many of my elderly passengers with small pensions go to the doctor once a week and are therefore very desperate about the ever increasing prices." He demands: "Finally put an end to this madness ,