Ever since he announced plans to introduce a 365-euro annual ticket for public transportation, Berlin mayor Michael Müller has been repeatedly grilled about how he plans to finance the scheme. Now, he has been forced to admit that the revenue shortfall might be plugged by increasing the price of single tickets. 

Müller responds to 365-euro-ticket funding concerns

Last week, Müller announced that he had been inspired by the example of Vienna, where the cost of annual subscriptions was cut to 365 euros back in 2012, and was considering introducing a similar scheme in Berlin.

Almost immediately, he was met with criticism from members of other political parties and Berlin’s transport association, VBB. Both pointed out that the move would mean cutting the price of an annual ticket, which currently stands at 761 euros, almost in half, and would leave the already-underfunded transportation system with a major income deficit. 

Single fares may increase in Berlin

Speaking on Berlin’s Inforadio, however, Müller rejected these criticisms and defended his plan as feasible. He was, however, forced to admit that he could not rule out the possibility that the price of single tickets in Berlin and Brandenburg would have to be increased to fund the cut-price annual ticket. 

Justifying this, he said that the scheme is all about rewarding those who travel a lot with and depend on BVG (Berlin’s main transport company), as well as encouraging new people to start using public transportation instead of cars. 

Quality more important than cost?

On the other hand, BVG has pointed out that, to cope with a higher passenger volume, it would need to substantially increase the numbers of vehicles and personnel, while also enacting cost-cutting measures to keep up with the lower fares. 

The VBB, already struggling with heavy revenue losses, argued that the focus should be on improving services and infrastructure, rather than cutting costs, because the quality - and not the price - of public transportation is the most important thing to customers.