Frankfurt's environmental campaign: Auto against BahnTicket - a year balance!

Frankfurt's environmental campaign: Auto against BahnTicket - a year balance!

In Frankfurt am Main, drivers have been able to exchange their car for a free Germany ticket since July 1, 2024. This initiative, which supports the city with a budget of 500,000 euros, is aimed at residents who want to reduce their personal traffic and at the same time want to switch to local public transport. By the end of January 2025, around 340 people have already made use of this offer. However, the traffic club Germany (VCD) expresses criticism of the relatively small number of participants in relation to the high number of vehicles in the city.

The Germany ticket has a value of 588 euros for one year and is intended to promote the benefits of public transport. With this step, the city tries to improve the traffic situation and air quality in Frankfurt. The response from the city side is rated as positive, even if the targets were initially higher. The effect of the environmental premium is to be evaluated after one year to check the effectiveness of the program.

conditions of participation and application process

In order to be considered for the premium, the applicants must meet certain requirements. This includes that they are at least 18 years old and have their first residence in Frankfurt. In addition, the car that is being handed over must have been scrapped, sold or given away within the past three months. In addition, the applicant may not have registered a new vehicle in the year before the application and must do without a new approval during the premium reference.

The application is uncomplicated because a toll-free extract from the central vehicle register is required at the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The application can be made in the VGF ticket center in the main guard, where the ticket is issued directly in the form of a chip card.

comparison with other cities

Similar premium programs also exist in other cities such as Darmstadt and Marburg. In Darmstadt, a program was stopped after over a year with around 200 reported vehicles after the city had spent climatic coats for three months. In Marburg, the demand increased so much that the program, which provided up to 1,250 euros in vouchers, had to be ended prematurely due to unauthorized budget.

The VCD emphasizes that in addition to such incentives for switching to public transport, more comprehensive measures such as better parking space management and the expansion of cycle paths are necessary. Mobility researcher Levke Sönksen has considered the premium as a positive step, but underlines that functioning local public transport is a basic requirement for the long -term success of such programs.

Overall, the environmental premium in Frankfurt shows initial positive developments that can contribute to reducing car traffic and promoting environmentally friendly transport, even if there are still challenges to win the general population for participation.