Germany proposes free public transport to lower urban emissions

BERLIN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The German government has made a proposal on Tuesday to introduce free public transportation as a radical measure to lower nitrogen oxide pollution in cities.

Berlin is hereby attempting to prevent becoming the target of legal action launched by the European Commission in response to Germany's persistent failure to comply with European Union (EU) urban air quality regulations.

At least 20 major cities in the country continue to record nitrogen oxide pollution levels which exceed EU limits and will also be unable to correct this circumstance before 2020 according to a recent official report. Human exposure to nitrogen oxide emissions is associated with pulmonary diseases and is mainly caused by older diesel-vehicles.

News magazine Politico cited a letter by acting Minister for the Environment Barbara Hendricks, Transport Minister Christian Schmidt and Head of the Chancellery Peter Altmaier to EU environmental commissioner Karmenu Vella which outlined the plan.

"If necessary", municipal and state governments should be supported financially in efforts to lower the number of private automobiles on their streets, the letter read. How exactly the cost of the free public transportation would be covered remains unclear.

Additionally, the German government is mulling a series of other proposals including "low emissions zones" for freight traffic to appease Brussels. The measures are to be tested for their effectiveness first in small-scale experiments in five "model cities".

The letter further emphasized that a multi-billion euros program co-financed by the state and carmakers was already underway to improve urban air quality and that the issue was of the "highest priority" in Berlin.

Responding the publication of the letter on Tuesday, the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) expressed doubts over the economic viability of free public transportation.

The VDV told press that it saw the proposals "very critically", given the need for taxpayers to cover around 12 billion euros (14.8 billion U.S. dollars) each year in revenue lost from ticket sales, as well as the costs for additional infrastructure which are likely to be created by resulting higher demand.

"In the case of free services, we would experience an enormous growth in the number of passengers," a statement by the VDV read.

Similarly, the German Association of Cities ("Staedtetag") highlighted the need to ensure that free public transportation would be introduced on a firm financial footing.

"Whoever wants cheap local public transportation has to be able to pay for it," Staedtetag director Helmut Dedy said.

Aside from the European Commission's legal challenge German nitrogen oxide pollutions at the European Court of Justice (CFEU) which policymakers are seeking to avert, several courts in Germany are independently mulling imposing a driving ban on diesel vehicles in the worst-affected cities.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig is expected to deliver a potentially-far reaching verdict in this context on Feb. 22. Enditem