A topic in itself: local public transport. For some, it is an indispensable companion in everyday life, for others it is preferably as infrequent as possible. In a recently published ranking, DB subsidiary ioki has analysed the cities and rural districts in Germany where local public transport is strong and where it urgently needs to be expanded.
Surprisingly good to much room for improvement – the big Germany ranking
In 44 independent cities in Germany, the accessibility of public transport is ‘high quality’ or ‘very good’, including the state capitals of Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart. The situation is less favourable for the cities of Straubing, Emden and Mem-mingen, which are at the lower end of the ranking. They are among the eleven cities with a ‘satisfactory’ rating and thus bring up the rear in the city rankings.
Of the 290 districts analysed, the district of Munich is clearly in the lead. It is followed by Mettmann and Fürstenfeldbruck. A promising result, but none of the districts analysed were able to achieve the ‘very good’ grade. In 37 of the districts analysed, public transport is even only rated as ‘marginal’ and therefore in the red zone. The consequences: In these regions, many people are dependent on cars, which leads to more traffic and higher environmental pollution.
Sound data instead of sentiment: the Germany ranking is intended to encourage a shift in thinking
‘The results show that good public transport in Germany is still very unevenly distributed. Attractive public transport with frequent services, the option to switch from bus to train and new mobility services such as on-demand transport can make a decisive difference in terms of quality of life and climate protection,’ says Michael Barillère-Scholz, Managing Director of ioki, whose team compiled the ranking. ‘The new visibility of public transport quality through ioki Plan is a great advantage. Citizens can access comprehensible information that helps them to better evaluate and understand the service quality of public transport services.’
That’s how it works: Determine public transport quality yourself
Anyone interested can now easily find out for themselves how public transport is doing in their region: the results of the public transport ranking can be found at https://plan.ioki.com/rangliste-nahverkehr.
If you want to know exactly, use the new web tool ioki Plan: simply register, enter your hometown or district and you will receive easy-to-understand maps on public transport quality. You don’t need any data or experience in transport planning.