Kassel traffic expert favors passenger car tolls

At the public hearing on the topic of "Future models for financing and organizing local public transport," Prof. Sommer will present a number of proposals to members of the Bundestag. "The financing of local public transport to date has led to a significant loss of substance in the local public transport infrastructure," Prof. Sommer described. In order to be able to achieve climate and environmental policy goals, a massive expansion of local public transport services is also required.

In his view, a change of course is therefore urgently needed: "Fares for local public transportation have risen disproportionately in recent years," says Prof. Sommer. "At the same time, the maintenance and expansion of public transportation will require large sums of money that cannot be borne by public transportation users alone," he explains.

Therefore, Prof. Sommer advocates that not only the direct users of buses and trains should participate in the future financing of public transportation, but also people and institutions that have an indirect benefit from the provision of public transportation. "Ultimately, after all, car drivers also benefit when more people travel by public transport because there is less traffic on the road as a result. And employers with good public transport connections have to provide fewer parking spaces - that is also a tangible benefit," says Prof. Sommer.

He therefore calls for the beneficiaries of local public transportation to also share more of the costs. "There are already some successful examples of this internationally, such as the local transport levy in France, the employer levy in Vienna or a so-called traffic generation levy for institutions that generate motor vehicle traffic in England." In this context, Prof. Sommer also considers the much-discussed passenger car toll to be useful: "A passenger car toll can be a helpful instrument to compensate for the problem of lacking funds for local transport - for this purpose, it should ideally be applied to the entire road network."

Link to statement: https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/816350/a0cc03ffdc87a8f8c6b2731b5bb30f7d/19-15-442-B-data.pdf

Contact

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer
University of Kassel //Department of Transport Planning and Transport Systems

Mönchebergstraße 7
D-34125 Kassel

Phone: +49(0)561/804-3381
E-Mail: c.sommer@uni-kassel.de
Internet: http://www.uni-kassel.de/go/vpvs