Anke Rehlinger is Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Transport in Saarland. During the coalition negotiations in the federal government, Rehlinger led the negotiating team of the SPD in the working group on mobility policy.
DEMO: According to the coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition wants to “invest more in rail than in road” and connect more regional centers to long-distance transport. Are there also plans for smaller municipalities that are no longer connected to rail traffic today?
Anke Rehlinger: The train should carry twice as many passengers by 2030. You have to pick them up too. I’m from Saarland, and the subject of long-distance transport is important to us. Of course, not every village in Germany can get an ICE connection, but the large centers must be connected and from there we also have to promote the issue of new construction and reactivation of routes. With regard to smaller municipalities, it seems to me especially important that buses, trains and flexible offers such as on-demand transport interlock in such a way that a long-distance transport connection is available for everyone – and that in times that are competitive with cars.
The coalition wants to improve the attractiveness and capacities of local public transport and “significantly increase” the number of passengers. How exactly is that supposed to work?
In my opinion, all citizens should be able to use local public transport within walking distance. Of course, this requires more in the less populated country than in a city. The key is money, lots of money. For investments in rail, on the one hand, but also as regionalization means for the countries, so that they can also order trains and staff. The attractiveness of public transport has many facets: We need connections, frequency and competitive prices. In concrete terms, this means that buses and trains as well as flexible alternatives have to run in adequate numbers, there are good transfer options and the tickets can best be easily bought with a mobile phone. The federal, state and local governments will have to invest jointly in all of this, and everything is in the coalition agreement. That is already very good, but of course it will depend very much on the concrete implementation.
In order to support e-mobility, the coalition is planning one million public charging points by 2030. So far, municipalities and their companies have often tackled the expansion where it is not economically viable. What role is intended for them in the further expansion – and which role is the “free market”?
I am firmly convinced that it will be difficult to achieve the goal of getting 15 million electrically powered cars on the road by 2030 without setting up the appropriate charging infrastructure beforehand. For many people, it will be at least one of the deciding factors for a purchase that they have the option of charging their electric car quickly and easily when they are not at home. I am also sure that this will pay off for both municipalities and private companies as the number of electric cars to be charged increases.
The coalition wants to adapt the Road Traffic Act and the Road Traffic Regulations so that “the goals of climate and environmental protection, health and urban development are taken into account”. The federal states and municipalities are to be given more scope for decision-making. Can you give specific examples where the coalition sees a need for action?
Basically, it is about bringing road traffic law up to date. In the past it was primarily about the flow and safety of traffic, today other goals such as air pollution control, noise protection or an increase in the general quality of stay also play a role. Specifically, the municipalities can make better decisions than the federal government. Which is why it is difficult for me to give a very specific answer: This can be a local speed limit as well as additional noise protection.
More information
–
