Tuesday, July 19, 2022

What Germany can tell us about cut-price public transport

Jan Tattenberg, Jul 18 2022
Jan Tattenberg recently completed a PhD in contemporary German history at the University of Oxford, and is now living in Auckland.

OPINION: The government has announced it will extend half-price public transport fares to January 2023.

But half-price fares are still not permanent, despite their extremely low cost compared to the fuel excise cut. With local elections looming, public transport remains a subject of debate, particularly in Auckland.

Is fares-free public transport good “value for money”? Will lower fares help increase passenger numbers? And, most importantly: will it reduce congestion?


These debates often lack foundation. But preliminary data on the effects of greatly reducing public transport fares is available. It comes from Germany, the country I grew up in.

READ MORE:
* Trains and buses crowded as half-price public transport takes effect
* Half-price public transport stretches dollars for many as fuel prices bite
* Germany to fight pollution with free public transportation

On June 1, 2022, the German government introduced a temporary pass, valid for public transport nationwide, which cost just €9 (~NZ$15) per month.

This amounts to a discount of 90% compared to the usual price for a monthly ticket in Berlin. In Munich, the discount is even greater.

In short, the German government came close to adopting fares-free public transport.

SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
Posters promoting 9-euro public transport tickets in Germany, where the measure was introduced to encourage people out of their cars at a time of high inflation.

Today, one pass unlocks buses, trains, trams, and subways anywhere, with the only exception being high-speed, long-distance trains.

Passengers can travel from Berlin to Munich, about 600km, without buying another ticket. Granted, it would take nine hours, rather than four by high-speed train. But driving takes at least six hours and on a bad day is no faster.

So far, 21 million tickets have been sold. Ten million people on an annual pass automatically received the discount and will be refunded the difference.

Munich public transport passenger numbers are up 10% compared to pre-pandemic levels. The railways report passenger numbers 15% higher than pre-pandemic.

Fare evasion in Berlin is down over 90%, even as passenger numbers increased. This suggests fare evasion is driven by high prices.

MARKUS SCHREIBER/AP
A busy time at Berlin’s main train station, where patronage has jumped with the introduction of a heavily reduced fare.

The new pass has had a positive impact on traffic, a study produced for news agency dpa suggests. Weekday congestion improved in 23 of the 26 cities studied. In Hamburg, where traffic is notoriously bad, drivers saved more than four minutes over a 30-minute trip.

Before he took office in late 2021, transport minister Volker Wissing positioned himself as an advocate for drivers. By early July, he declared the introduction of the €9 ticket a “colossal success”.

“We have significantly less traffic on the streets, significantly fewer traffic jams.”

The €9 ticket is unlikely to become permanent. But the discount is significant enough to show that seriously low-cost or fares-free public transport brings with it significant benefits.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF
Buses ply Auckland’s central business district. Fares-free public transport has proved a hit with commuters since April.

Some will argue that public transport in Germany is already good, and the benefits would be less great in Aotearoa. That is a generalisation.

Since 1955, more than 15,000km of railways have been abandoned across the country. In the last 30 years alone, 16% of the network have been lost.

Major cities across East Germany remain poorly connected. Cities like Hannover, Hamburg, or Munich were remade for cars after World War II – a little like cities in New Zealand. The railway network faces a spending deficit of over €30 billion.

Candidates standing for local elections in Aotearoa this year should take seriously the benefits of improving public transit and reducing its cost. Seventy-three per cent of Aucklanders already support fares-free public transport.


Jan Tattenberg recently completed a PhD in contemporary German history at the University of Oxford, and is now living in Auckland.

Fares-free public transport would come at a cost. But over the long term, fuel prices are likely to rise.

Reducing the cost of public transport will ease cost-of-living pressures as long as the bus is a viable alternative. That is what voters might demand from their candidates: better public transport that is either significantly cheaper or, even better, free.

It would make life better not just for those who end up taking the bus, but for those who cannot avoid the car, too.


MICHAEL PROBST/AP
Germany’s public transport, including trains, has seen increased patronage from people using the network to travel out of town on weekends.

A final lesson from Germany is many additional trips taken were taken on weekends.

People took the train or bus to swim in a lake or the sea, to hike in the mountains or forests.

This is public transport at its best: not just a way to get to work or do the shopping, but of realising the potential of one’s environment. A way, in other words, to lead a better life.



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