A clear commitment by the city to commuters and a step that was long overdue, the City Council’s Committee for Planning, Environment and Mobility (Puma) unanimously launched a reform of the public transport job ticket for employees at its most recent meeting. If the city council also agrees in the coming week, the new form of company ticket will be introduced in November and tested until the end of 2025.
“This is a very big step,” emphasized environmental officer and mayor Martin Heilig (Greens), who presented the details. The city pays ten percent of the price for commuters with an employer in the city area with a VVM premium subscription, if the employer also gives at least ten percent subsidy. The VVM premium subscription allows maximum trips in the entire network system – the city and district of Würzburg, the city and district of Kitzingen, the district of Main-Spessart – and can be used by the whole family at weekends.
“Of course, employers are also allowed to give higher subsidies. That might even come close to a real 365-euro ticket,” says Heilig. If the company headquarters are outside the city limits, the district pays the municipal subsidy.
Even smaller companies can now participate
If the employers pay their minimum share, commuters have to pay almost 415 euros per year for the subscription with a remaining monthly price of 34.56 euros in the Großwabe Würzburg. In addition, the previous minimum purchase of job tickets no longer applies. “That was a disadvantage for gastronomy and craft businesses, this reform was overdue,” emphasized City Councilor Josef Hofmann from the Free Voters.
The environmental department and the Würzburger Strassenbahn GmbH (WSB) expect the more attractive offer to generate additional income of 900,000 euros per year, which would be 150,000 euros more than the calculated costs of 750,000 euros. “That also worked, for example, with the senior citizens’ ticket, which also brought us money,” explained Heilig.
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There is a lack of funding from the Free State for a 365-euro ticket
The municipal subsidy is tax-free for companies and employees. According to the draft resolution for the city council, similar projects in Nuremberg and Berlin have resulted in the number of public transport subscribers in company workforces doubling. “It makes the city more attractive if we ensure accessibility in different ways,” Heilig continues. The reform of the job ticket goes back to a public transport workshop by the city council in April 2019 and an application by the CSU parliamentary group from last year.
However, a real 365-euro ticket for everyone in the Mainfranken transport company association (VVM) cannot currently be implemented, as the members of the committee found out elsewhere. Without financial support from the Free State, the cities and districts involved in the association would not be willing to do so, explained Heilig. A letter from the Bavarian Minister of Transport Christian Bernreiter (CSU) to Mayor Christian Schuchardt clearly states that the state government is currently not planning any funding.
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