Berlin’s public transport association, the BVG, will have 8,9 million euros in subsidies docked for having breached its contract with the city state’s government.

Manja Schreiner says BVG has failed to fulfil its contract

Tranport Minister for Berlin Manja Schreiner (CDU) has announced that the city’s government will withhold 8,9 million euros in subsidies from the BVG due to the transport association’s failure to uphold its side of a contract with the city.

“As customers we expect the BVG to provide the agreed services”, Schreiner told Berliner Zeitung in an interview. In November, the association announced that it would reduce the number of running bus services by 6 percent. First introduced on December 10, this reduction was compounded by mass staff sick leave which caused significant disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

On top of all of this, Berlin’s BVG is just one of many companies across the country which is suffering as a result of Germany’s record-high worker shortage.

“We did not expect that the reduction in services would assume such a scale”, Schreiner told the newspaper. “The BVG cannot close a deal with the state of Berlin and that means that we cannot deliver”. 

Berlin will dock 8,9 million in BVG subsidies

Schreiner explained that Berlin’s CDU-SPD coalition had decided to dock 8,9 million in BVG funding. According to the Minister, this response is based on two specific disruptions; the atypical timetable and limited U-Bahn services due to a part-route service on the U6 line.

With Henrik Falk, former head of the public transport system in Hamburg, taking over as CEO in 2024, Schreiner implored Falk to bring stability back to the city’s network of buses, trains and trams. “That is my expectation”, she said but added that she doesn’t predict this will happen before the end of 2024.

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