Green Party Faction Pressures Wissing with "Starter Package" for Traffic Transition

The Bundestag faction of Alliance 90/The Greens has now presented four rapid measures to initiate a genuine transportation transition and had them approved by the board. The coalition partner from the traffic light coalition criticizes that climate protection should gain more momentum in the transport sector. So far, too little has happened, they argue. Further measures such as a general speed limit or a major reform of the vehicle tax should follow. The paper aims, among other things, to make the alternatives to motorized individual transport (MIT) more attractive. One lever for this should be the long-planned 49-euro ticket for public transport (ÖPNV). The responsible federal ministry must fulfill its structuring role and pull out all the stops to ensure the 49-euro ticket actually comes this spring, the barely veiled criticism of the federal transport minister goes.

As the traffic light coalition, they have taken a new course in climate protection and moved many levers simultaneously toward climate neutrality in a short period. For instance, the speed of expanding renewable energies has been tripled, the coal phase-out in the west is being brought forward by eight years, and it has been agreed Europe-wide that all newly registered cars must be emission-free by 2035, the faction members touted. This was also badly needed after two decades of stagnation.

"All this is still not enough to achieve the climate protection goals. Particularly in the transport sector, climate protection must gain momentum, as too little is happening so far. Here are four measures that can mark the beginning of a comprehensive transportation transition. Further measures such as a general speed limit or a major reform of the vehicle tax should follow," the party further stated.

The responsible federal ministry must fulfill its structuring role and pull out all the stops to ensure the 49-euro ticket actually comes this spring. Some states and municipalities also offer cheaper social tickets, so that lower-income households can also benefit from the public transport offensive. They expect the states to financially shoulder their original tasks in public transport more independently and to reduce fragmented association task structures. The federal government, in turn, must reliably fund the strengthening of local rail passenger transport to make service expansions possible, particularly in rural areas.

"We support traffic shifting when we specifically combine public transport with walking and cycling and establish it as a strong environmental network," the party politicians emphasized.

Therefore, it is good that the coalition is increasing investments in high-quality bicycle parking facilities at train stations and stops. Walking and cycling themselves must become safer.

"It is therefore time to modernize traffic laws and give municipalities more freedom in designing, as associations and the Livable Cities Initiative have been demanding for years. The environmental network becomes more attractive, for example, when municipalities can decide for themselves to adjust speeds and impose speed limits," the Greens demanded from the transport minister.

Reduction of environmentally harmful subsidies

In addition, they called for more speed in expanding the charging infrastructure for electromobility. Currently, the billion-euro company car taxation has significant influence on the new car market and decisively determines "which vehicles are on our roads". 

"The general public also subsidizes excessively fuel-consuming cars for top earners with tax money, to whom luxury company cars are available as an attractive extra salary. With a social-ecological reform of company car taxation, we want to stagger the tax treatment of company cars according to CO2 emissions and also regulate the tax deductibility of company cars and fossil fuels for companies," the Greens specified.

They also brought into play the concept of fixed mobility budgets, with which employers can provide their employees with a set financial amount for private and business travel. This would allow the "classic" public transport means such as buses and trains to be used as well as car-sharing or other mobility services. Almost a year ago, the coalition committee agreed to reform the commuter allowance socially and ecologically. So far, however, there is a lack of concrete drafts from the responsible federal ministries. These are urgently called upon to present corresponding initiatives to parliament, the faction members urged.

Reforming Company Car Privileges

Additionally, the company car taxation should be reformed to orient itself towards CO2 emissions in the future—strictly following the motto, the more harmful to the climate, the more expensive. Alternative modes of transportation to cars should be supported through fixed mobility budgets. The Greens are also calling on the Federal Minister of Transport for a socio-ecological reform of the commuter allowance. Under the headline "Accelerating Planning for Railways and Bridges," they further urge changes to the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. It must be compatible with the federal government's climate targets. The coalition had agreed to review the needs plan and coordinate ongoing projects together.

There needs to be full concentration on the renovation of bridges and existing expressways. The aim is to systematically align transportation infrastructure planning with the requirements of the mobility transition and significantly reduce the planned expansions of highways and federal roads by 2030.

"Even from a climate protection perspective, we can't keep affording more and more new roads," the Greens fundamentally warned.

Renovate Existing Infrastructure Instead of Building New

"Unfortunately, concrete implementation proposals from the responsible federal department are lacking here. This needs to change urgently, and the directives from the coalition agreement must be implemented."

With this criticism, the Greens are clearly targeting the Federal Minister of Transport. They also point to the approximately 40,000 bridges that connect highways and federal roads, which are mostly dilapidated and may need to be partially or completely closed. The Greens believe that a focus on the renovation of bridges and existing expressways is necessary in road construction. The current Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan needs to be revised to be compatible with the federal government's climate targets.

"Unfortunately, there is a lack of concrete implementation proposals from the responsible federal department. This needs to change urgently, and the directives from the coalition agreement must be implemented," criticizes the Green Party faction.

"We demand the improvement of administrative processes, digitization, and staffing with regard to approval and planning procedures for these important projects that serve the goal of transformation to climate neutrality."

This applies especially to the expansion of rail transport.

"It is crucial that the budget funds for the maintenance and expansion of the network are now further increased and secured in the long term. Only if the railway in Germany is reliable and powerful will it fully exploit its potential to shift traffic from road and air to rail."

Electrification Offensive for Freight Transport

An entire chapter in the strategy paper is dedicated to the Electrification Offensive for Freight Transport. The so-called high-voltage network already exists in Germany and partially runs along highways. The Greens now want to expand this quickly and make it functional for trucks.

"Logistics will only switch from diesel to electric trucks when it is clear that these can be recharged on the go without delay," the party is convinced.