n March, the Deutschlandticket was supposed to come, with which one should be able to move throughout Germany for 49€ per month in the ÖPNV. After that already is not going to happen until May and it also turns out that the ticket will only be available digitally and by subscription, a credit check is to be carried out when paying by direct debit, which may mean that those of all people who can already hardly afford to take the train might not benefit from this offer.
Two months before the introduction of the ticket, the Regio-Verkehrsverbund Freiburg, an association of different transport companies, has now also raised the prices for public transport again. The RVF had already raised fares in January 2022, causing a single fare stage 1 ticket to climb from 2.40 to 2.50. The reason given at the time was rising expenditure on public transport. The reason given at the time was rising expenses for fuel, personnel costs and the new CO2 tax.
It has now taken the RVF just over a year to introduce the next increase. And this time, it's a big one. This time, one-way tickets will be 20 cents more expensive, and a transferable monthly pass will climb from €68 in the fall of last year to a whopping €74.50.
At the same time, the Freiburg city administration is planning to make the social ticket in Freiburg more expensive as well. Starting from April the price is to climb here of up-to-date 24€ to 38€, the 2x4-trip ticket is to cost for social ticket-entitled instead of 5,55€ now 9,50€. That is justified with the tariff increases of the RVF. Even though it had even been determined that the price for the social ticket is independent of tariff increases. In turn, the RVF justify the tariff increases with the association not having enough public money at its disposal.
Although the Deutschlandticket is to be subsidized for those entitled to a social ticket, the problem of the subscription and the associated credit check remains here as well.
Once again, we see how the costs of the crisis are being passed on to the working class. While we can barely pay for our groceries and skip heating in the winter to save money, the labor buyers continue to refuse to raise our wages enough
to at least make up for inflation. Even additional costs like the CO2 tax are simply passed on to the population by the capitalists. Day by day it becomes more and more obvious: if the workers do not organize and resolutely defend their interests as a class, a decent life will become increasingly impossible even in the heart of the imperialist beast.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
