Germany sticks it to Russia by offering a €9 monthly public transport ticket
Can cheap tickets get people using public transport?
Will cheap tickets mean greater public transport use?
It’s unclear how much impact the subsidized publictransportwill have on car ownership or usage.
It’s likely to lead to more people purchasing the low-cost tickets. But this doesn’t necessarily translate to more people abandoning their cars for a trip by train, tram, or bus.
Or that people will continue usingpublic transportonce the summer ends — no one likes waiting in the cold for a bus.
Further, while the city of Berlin and other major cities like Hamburg and Frankfurt are well serviced by public transport, this is unsurprisingly not the case in rural Germany, where90% of householdsown at least one car.
Low population density in rural areas limits the access and frequency of public transport. It also limits the development of bike paths and any last-mile solutions.
Asurveyearlier this year found that 75% of German households who regularly use their car are willing to switch to public transport. 66% could imagine taking their bike more often. The survey further revealed that rural folks are almost equally as willing to take abicycleas city dwellers.
However, it also found that 40% of German households who see their car as a status symbol are not willing to switch to a bike under any circumstances. So the challenges are not only logistical, but cultural.
But, is there an opportunity for a third way?
Not quite a bus and not quite a taxi
Since September 2018, Berlin has trialed an on-demand carpooling electric shuttle service calledBerlkönig, which hasa fleet of over 300 vehicles.
The BVG app is used to book each journey. An algorithm bundles travel requests from several passengers with the same destination. This creates a route, and books the passengers into a shared vehicle.
It’s cheaper than a taxi and more convenient than a bus, with over two million trips so far.
Could rural areas expand on this kind of initiative? I think it could be especially effective in regional areas with an aging population.
Thus, it could create a more lasting way to get people out of their cars, if not provide a bridge between home andpublic transport. And ultimately, reduce German reliance on Russian fossil fuels.
edit: The article was updated to reflect that the ticketing discount is being deployed throughout Germany.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart ci(show all)Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin. She focuses on all things mobility: ebikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, smart cities, and the future of alternative energy sources like electric batteries, solar, and hydrogen.
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