The German Association of cities warns against rising prices in transportation. The reason, new EU requirements for the procurement of clean buses. "It is to be feared that the public TRANSPORT offer is the Directive in the long term more expensive or even needs to be reduced," said chief Executive Helmut Dedy, the German press Agency.
the Background is an EU Directive adopted by the European Parliament on Thursday. Municipalities should buy more buses with low emissions, clean air in cities and advancing climate protection. In Germany must therefore be by 2025 at least 45 percent of the newly purchased buses "clean and energy-efficient", from 2026 to even 65 percent. Are meant, for example, electric or biogas buses.
up-to-date, only a few models ready for the market, but it is expensive
The cities that are kinder to the vehicles were for the change to the environment, said Dedy. However, there is currently only a few market-ready models for emission-free buses, which are even more expensive. The ticket would have driven prices up, this would be the wrong Signal, said Association representatives: "As for a traffic must turn right now and in the coming years, the public TRANSPORT expanded and even more attractive in order to facilitate the transition of people on buses and trains."
the Federal transport Minister, Andreas Scheuer (CSU) had announced on Wednesday that the value-added tax on tickets in the long-distance transport, the railway cut. With a reduction in the levy on seven of the previous 19 percent of rail riders are to be relieved in the long-distance transport by up to 400 million euros per year.