Public transport in Bonn and the region VRS decides on significant price increase for 2023
Cologne · The Rhine-Sieg Transport Association (VRS) will significantly increase prices for local public transport in the coming year. The VRS tariff advisory board is also appealing to the federal and state governments to find a successor for the nine-euro ticket.
Now it is as good as official, that what was reported by the General Anzeiger on Wednesday. The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) will increase fares by 3.5 percent on January 1 and again by 3.87 percent on July 1. That means there will be an increase in fares in the next year of 5.44 percent altogether. The VRS tariff advisory board decided on the increases in its meeting on Friday in Cologne. In the next week, the VRS enterprise advisory board must still agree on the increases, but this is considered to be a sure thing. Another formality comes at the end of the month when approval is also needed at the VRS association meeting.
The tariff advisory council also appealed to the federal and state governments to introduce a successor ticket to the nine-euro ticket on January 1. The chairman of the tariff advisory council, Rhein-Sieg District Administrator Sebastian Schuster, said, "The nine-euro ticket has given public transport an image boost. We would like to continue that." At issue is whether such a ticket could cost 49, 59 or 69 euros, for example. Regardless of the specific price, such a ticket would revolutionize the entire public transport system, said Dierk Timm, head of the SPD parliamentary group on the VRS tariff advisory council. And self-critically he added: "The tariffs in the VRS have not been very simplified so far.”
(Orig. text: Bernd Eyermann / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)
