(ffm) The Seniorenticket Hessen will be available in advance sales throughout Hesse from Monday, 11 November. For one euro a day, i.e. 365 euros a year, seniors who are 65 or older can purchase the new flat-rate ticket. The ticket will be valid for the first time from 1 January 2020. The offer is aimed at a total of 1.3 million senior citizens and is valid throughout Hesse: in the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), the Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (NVV) and the Hessian part of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN). Economics and Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir said on the occasion of the sales launch in Frankfurt: "With the schoolchildren's ticket, we in Hesse successfully broke new ground two years ago and are pioneers throughout Germany. I am sure that the Seniorenticket Hessen will also be a sales hit and that very many active senior citizens will take advantage of the offer. For everyone over 65, too, it's now: one ticket, one country, 1 euro a day."
With the Seniorenticket Hessen, all buses, trams, underground trains, suburban trains as well as all regional trains throughout Hesse can be used on weekdays from 9 o'clock in the morning and all day on weekends and public holidays. "If we want to achieve the transport turnaround, we have to make people good offers so that they switch from the car to local public transport. This requires a good range of buses and trains, but also ticket offers that are as simple and low-threshold as possible," Al-Wazir said. "With the new senior citizen ticket, we are once again one step closer to our long-term vision of a low-cost citizen ticket for all Hessians."
Peter Feldmann, Lord Mayor and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RMV, said, "With the schoolchildren's ticket, we have shown that it works. With the senior citizens' ticket, we are now following suit and taking the big next step towards the major goal of a social-ecological transport turnaround. This goal is also served by our new low-priced neighbourhood ticket, which makes journeys across municipal boundaries cheaper. This goal is served by the expansion of buses and trains at night. This goal is also served by the fare reductions in Frankfurt for day tickets, single tickets and, last but not least, our demand for a low-priced 1-euro ticket. We are on the right track."
For the RMV, the senior ticket is a logical continuation of the previous senior offers. "The 65-plus tickets are extremely well received by RMV," said RMV Managing Director Prof. Knut Ringat. "From 2016 to 2018 alone, sales figures in this segment have increased by 70 percent. I expect the Seniorenticket to continue this success story, because it is not only inexpensive, but also easy to use: anyone with a Seniorenticket does not have to think about where the next fare boundary is, because it is valid throughout the entire federal state. And the Seniorenticket is also a huge step for the RMV: If we add up the 1.3 million eligible seniors with all those people who are already travelling with the Schülererticket, Landesbedienstetenticket, JobTicket or Semesterticket today, half of all residents in the RMV area will have access to a cheap flat-rate offer from 1 January."
NVV managing director Steffen Müller pointed out that many senior citizens travel by car more often than average. "The new Seniorenticket Hessen fits ideally with the offer offensive of the NVV. We are creating an hourly cycle for every village in northern Hesse with our bus and train services. This is a great invitation to everyone to use buses and trains more often.
VRN Managing Director Volkhard Malik: "We are pleased to be able to offer seniors in the Bergstrasse district now also a favorable opportunity to be climate-friendly and sustainable mobile throughout Hesse by bus and train. With this, we want to encourage even more people to switch to public transport."
In addition to the 365-Euro-Ticket for seniors, there will be an upgrade offer. Anyone who is at least 65 years old and wants to travel around the clock will pay 625 euros for the Seniorenticket Hessen Komfort, for which they can also travel in 1st class, take one additional adult and any number of children under 15 with them after 7 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends.
