City of Berlin scraps budget public transport ticket in austerity move

The city of Berlin has agreed to cancel its 29-euro monthly public transport ticket in a bid to cut government spending. Scrapping the budget subscription price is part of a set of measures agreed in talks between the ruling coalition of the CDU and SPD for imposing austerity measures in Germany's capital, which has to save three billion euros in its 2025 budget, Berliner Morgenpost reported. The monthly ticket was introduced in July this year and allowed subscribers to use all public transport in the city at a fixed rate. It stood in competition with the nationwide, 49-euro Germany ticket, which allows passengers to use local public transport throughout the country.

Scrapping it is expected to save around 100 million euros from next year's budget, but it is unclear what will happen to current subscriptions that run into 2025, according to the newspaper. "Disproportionately high savings of almost 660 million euros are planned in the areas of transport, environment and climate protection," amounting to 19 percent of the previously planned budget, it said. Car parking fees, however, have been spared in Berlin’s belt-tightening efforts and will not increase next year to balance the budget, the newspaper reported.

The city of Berlin's ruling coalition has been debating for months how to plug next year's budget gap. Spending on greening the city's transport sector had risen in recent years under Green party senators, public broadcaster ARD reported. The ruling coalition would now cut hundreds of millions of euros for buses, trains and cycle paths, it added.

Plans for massive climate investments in Berlin received a major setback at the beginning of the year after legal experts have deemed the current funding scheme as illegal.