Last September, the coalition government agreed to a one-time payment for students. Since December, the Students’ Energy Price Allowance Act has been in effect, but except for a few students in a trial phase, the vast majority of students cannot access the money or apply for it. Six months after the decision to provide this relief payment, millions of students are still waiting for their one-time payment of over €200.
From March, the new BW Youth Ticket will be available for €365. That’s great and, in our view, a small and long overdue step toward a climate- and socially just mobility turnaround.
The problem: The ticket is only valid up to and including the age of 26. In addition, the current Studiticket is expected to expire at the end of August 2023. Students aged 27 and over will therefore be without a suitable Studiticket from September. This threatens to significantly increase their costs for bus and rail, because the next “cheapest” option would then be the Deutschlandticket for €49 per month.
From our view this is – above all – a discrimination of older fellow students because of their age!
Since attempts by student representatives to remove the age limit unfortunately remained unsuccessful until the end, we are now taking matters into our own hands: Together with Stuttgart branches and political youth groups, we have formulated an open letter. In it, we call on the city of Stuttgart and the city council to create an opportunity for students over the age of 27 to use public transportation for a maximum of €1 per day. You can find the whole letter under this link. You can also find more info in our Instapost (English details in the description).
In the letter we emphasize that this can only be the beginning: In perspective, a climate and socially just mobility transition can only succeed if students, pupils, trainees, volunteers and people with low or no income can ride buses and trains for free.
We will continue to put pressure on this matter!