The accessible and affordable public transport objective

Mobility is among the most ele­mentary basic needs of our society. To be able to guarantee mobility for everyone, local public transport is of great importance within a networked transport system.

In Germany, nearly 30 million people use local public transport everyday. Especially in the agglomerations where the number of households without a car is particularly high and public transport is an important alternative to private transport.

The coalition is committed to local public transport as an indispensable element for the provision of services of general interest. This applies equally to urban as well as rural areas. We have to organise local public transport in a way which makes it accessible for everyone and everywhere as well as environmentally friendly and affordable. Rural areas must also not be disadvantaged!

Here, local public transport has to meet new challenges due to the demographic change. The decline in population, especially in rural areas, and the ageing of the society in many places require an adjustment of the supply of services. Whereas the passenger figures in urban growth regions are increasing, the question in rural areas will mainly be how local public transport can be maintained as an important element for the provision of services of general interest. To achieve this we also count on alternative supply offers which are oriented towards demand. The use of shared taxis and buses on call makes it possible to maintain an area-wide and user-friendly supply of local public transport services with higher cost efficiency in rural areas. We want to realise barrier-free access to local public transport as much as possible in order to also give senior citizens and people with disabilities the poss­ibility of remaining mobile.

Hereby the Federal Government mainly counts on local public transport services which are business-oriented. In places where the market already provides an adequate supply, there is no necessity of interventions of the public sector. Furthermore it is necessary, in accordance with European Law, to ensure fair conditions of competition. We want to take account of this requirement by amending the Carriage of Passengers Act.

My objective as Federal Minister of Transport is a genuine energy and environment policy in which local public transport plays a central role. The CO2 emissions per passenger are approximately two thirds lower in local public transport compared to the passenger car. The shift of only 1% of motorised private transport to public transport could save more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Our responsibility increases with the high growth rates of urban transport: An efficient and environmentally friendly organisation of local public transport can also be supported through the more wide-spread use of up-to-date information, tariff and sale systems and through infrastructure measures. The implementation of the concept ‘Compact City’ in our towns and the reduction of traffic congestion can contribute to environmental and climate protection.

Clean and efficient propulsion technologies are indispensable for a modern and environmentally friendly transport system. Local public transport especially offers great potential and many uses for electric vehicles which limit the emission of pollutants as well as helping to reduce traffic noise. In particular, in connection with electricity from renewable energy sources, they make mobility possible which is up-to-date, climate-compatible and resource-saving.

The support programme ‘Model Regions Electric Mobility’ of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development pursues a regional and integrative approach: We are closely cooperating with scientific and industrial circles and with the local communities in order to establish electric mobility in public trans­- port. Electric propulsion systems are applied, researched and further developed under real conditions in eight pilot regions. In Munich, for example, diesel hybrid buses are to be used in local public transport and in Saxony electric vehicles are to be included in car-sharing fleets. I am certain that, mainly by linking public transport and electric mobility, we will write a success story.

Also, in foreign trade policy, we will place new accents. Germany is a country which is extremely export-oriented, and my Ministry will take account of this fact much more than was the case up to now. German enterprises have a lot to offer with regard to innovative transport technologies, electric mobility and logistics. We would like to open the doors worldwide for these potentials. And we want to establish equal opportunities for the German companies on the European markets. Competition, for example in rail transport, has to be fair among the European partners. German enterprises must be able to use the networks in other countries in the same way as the enterprises from other European countries already do this in Germany today.

My objective for local public transport is an environmentally and user-friendly transport system which is accessible and affordable for everyone. We will pursue this objective consistently for Germany and for Europe.