Two thirds of Germans in favour of free public transport offers
Clean Energy Wire
A large majority of Germans say that public transportation services should be offered free of charge, a survey commissioned by carmaker Daimler has found. In a survey conducted by pollster Forsa among 1,200 people in November 2018, 69 percent of respondents said bus and train services should be available for free and 73 percent said public transport services should also be expanded to bring down pollution levels in inner cities and to better manage traffic volumes. According to the survey, especially younger people are in favour of free public transport. More than 80 percent said driving bans for passenger cars are no suitable measure to deal with traffic challenges. About one third of respondents answered that e-cars should receive more support and 27 percent said that car sharing services should be expanded. However, more than 90 percent also answered they would not share their own car with someone they do not know personally.
Offering public transport free of charge had been mulled by the German government in early 2018 as a measure to avoid being sued by the EU over excessive air pollution levels in inner cities and driving bans for polluting diesel cars. The government later backtracked on the idea and said there are many other options to reduce air pollution levels. However, five selected model cities in the government’s “Ad-hoc programme for clean air” said they want to make their public transport systems better and cheaper.
