Berlin
The 49-euro ticket should come. But what about Hartz IV recipients? In the standard rate, not that much money is earmarked for public transport.
- From May there will be a 49-euro ticket for local transport in Germany
- Many people should be happy about the cheap offer – but it is too expensive for recipients of citizen income
- Will the job center possibly cover the costs?
After the success of the 9-euro ticket, the federal and state governments decided to 49-Euro-Ticket agreed. According to the federal government, the conditions for the new environmental ticket are “paperless, nationwide and can be canceled monthly”.
Also read: 49-euro ticket – the most important information at a glance
The Deutschlandticket “has what it takes to tell the story of the public public transport to rewrite it,” said Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) during the decision-making debate in the German Bundestag. It has been decided to introduce it on May 1, 2023. Sales will begin at the beginning of April. After two years, it will be checked whether the environmental ticket will prove itself could.
The 49-euro ticket is intended to make using local public transport more attractive and attract as many passengers as possible. However, when calculating the price and the organization, the federal government has so far for certain persons questions left open.
Citizens’ money does not cover the 49-euro ticket
49 euros sounds like a cheap price compared to the regular offers, which are usually only limited to one federal state or one transport association and not all of Germany. But for recipients of Hartz IV and the planned citizens’ benefit, the climate ticket is difficult to afford. The current Hartz IV standard rate provides for only 40.27 euros per month for a single adult who wants to use public transport. The difference would have to be saved elsewhere.
The 49-euro ticket is around 22 percent more expensive than the standard requirement. It looks just as difficult for the future Citizenship recipients out of. They should receive 45.02 euros a month from the job center for using public transport. The remaining 3.98 euros (nearly nine percent) would have to be compensated elsewhere. However, with the current rising energy and food costs, saving is a challenge.
29 euro ticket costs the state no more than 49 euro ticket
Some federal states therefore want to make the ticket cheaper for young people or the needy, others offer nationwide tickets social tickets on, and a part leaves it with the discountswhich municipalities or transport associations provide for certain groups anyway.
Berliners can currently use the public transport drive in the AB tariff area of the capital. The offer is valid until December 31, after which the costs will be increased to 49 euros with the new ticket.
That should be the case in Saarland and Bavaria Germany ticket for young people cost 30.40 euros and 29 euros respectively. Thuringia wants to offer it to young people with training and residence in the Free State for 28 euros, but has not yet made a decision. The countries have to bear the costs for discounts on the 49-euro ticket themselves. Lower Saxony wants to offer a 29-euro ticket for schoolchildren, trainees and volunteers. The state governments in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate are also currently examining whether they can offer discounted versions of the ticket. Saxony rejects such projects. Funding from the state budget alone is not possible. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would like a discounted Germany ticket for seniors.
Environmental and social organizations are calling for a nationwide social ticket
An extension and nationwide expansion of the 29-Euro-Tickets would also be cheaper for the consumer and no more expensive for the state than the 49-euro ticket. At least Greenpeace came to this conclusion in a calculation for the climate ticket entitled “Cheap is better”.
“A climate ticket for 29 euros would be bought by around twice as many people as one for 49 euros. The average is over five surveys willingness to buy 104 percent higher for the cheaper ticket,” according to the environmental organization. Due to the significantly higher willingness to buy a 29-euro ticket, according to Greenpeace, the state received at most the same Cost as for a 49 euro ticket.
Criticism: 49-euro ticket is a climate ticket, but not a social ticket
The now decided nationwide connecting ticket is not affordable for social welfare recipients in Germany and is therefore “not an alternative for poor people,” said the president of the social association VdK, Verena Bentele, and added: “The 49-euro ticket makes a contribution to the mobility turnaround, but not to the social participation.”
The social association VdK also criticized that the new ticket is only available digitally. “It doesn’t help that, according to Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing, it should be barrier-free. Anyone who doesn’t have a smartphone won’t be able to use it,” said Bentele. These include people with disabilities, senior citizens and people who cannot afford a smartphone. “You will be excluded,” said the President.
Hartz IV and citizen’s allowance recipients can use their city’s social ticket
However, most recipients of citizen’s income will not stay without a ticket. You can often use one social ticket use public transport in your city at a discount. However, travel outside the city or state is not possible with a social ticket.
Unlike social tickets, the Deutschlandticket is financed jointly by the federal and state governments. The federal government will pay the federal states 1.5 billion euros annually from 2023 to 2025, half of the revenue losses in the federal states Traffic Company to balance. The other half is borne by the federal states. In the introductory year, the federal and state governments also share any additional costs. A new decision on the financing is to be made in 2025. (with dpa/epd)
This article first appeared on morgenpost.de.
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