Public transport connections are not improving in the view of many citizens, as a study shows. Even the Deutschlandticket could not change this. There is also room for improvement in cycling and walking.
According to a new study, one in three people in Germany are dissatisfied with the public transport services available in their place of residence: 33% of those surveyed feel that bus and train services are not well connected in their area. This is the result of the mobility barometer conducted by the Kantar opinion research institute.
There are differences between the federal states in particular. While people in the three city states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen and in the states with large conurbations such as Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia are still well connected, they feel left behind in Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg. Above all, there is a clear urban-rural divide.
More than 2,000 people aged 14 and over were surveyed by telephone and online in September and October 2024 in the representative survey commissioned by the interest groups Allianz pro Schiene, BUND and the German Road Safety Council.
Public transport services have not improved in many places in recent years, according to the results of the question as to whether the number of departures at the nearest stop has improved or deteriorated in the past five years. A majority (68%) saw no change, while 15% felt that their public transport connection had deteriorated. Only 17% spoke of an improvement.
Surprisingly, the distance to the nearest stop is not a problem for most people. Almost nine out of ten respondents (89%) are satisfied with this. A more demand-based service is needed for the mobility transition in rural areas.
However, the Mobility Barometer survey was not just about public transport. Participants were also asked how safe they felt when cycling and walking. The result: not even one in two (44 percent) think that there are enough safe cycle paths available to them. More than one in four cyclists (27%) even feel that the cycling infrastructure has taken a step backwards and feels less safe than five years ago.
In contrast, a further 25 percent of respondents feel safer (25 percent), although almost half (48 percent) see no change overall. On foot, almost one in four (23%) feel less safe, the vast majority (62%) see no change and only 15% feel safer than five years ago.
