Municipalities and transport companies demand more money for public transport

Several Saxon streetcar cities and their transport companies have written an open letter to the state parliamentary groups calling for better funding for public transport from the Free State. According to the letter, which was signed by the mayors and transport companies of Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Görlitz, Plauen and Zwickau, public transport services and their necessary expansion can only be secured at local level with sufficient funding from the federal and state governments. Only with sufficient support could the state's political goals of strengthening public transport as an attractive alternative to motorized private transport be achieved. Otherwise, there would soon be a threat of service cuts.

Cities warn of underfunding

Public transport is severely underfunded, which is due to both a sharp rise in costs and politically motivated price reductions as a result of the Deutschlandticket and the education ticket. It is also unclear whether the federal government is prepared to finance half of the Deutschlandticket in the long term. However, the cities and transport companies see this federal participation as essential for the long-term continuation of the Deutschlandticket.

"Improving the funding for public transport is essential for a medium-sized city like Plauen," said the Mayor of Plauen, Steffen Zenner (CDU). He pointed out that the sharp rise in costs for energy, infrastructure and personnel could no longer be covered by tariff increases and profit transfers. All savings options had already been exhausted. Anyone who wanted to seriously promote public transport would have to relieve the burden on local authorities and their streetcar operators.