Semester Ticket Munich:

A compromise for the winter semester 2016/17

TUMstudinews:  What is the price of the Semester Ticket for the winter semester of 2016/17?

Nora Pohle: For the next winter semester, the prices will be 65 € for the solidarity contribution and 189 € for the IsarCard Semester. Thus, the solidarity contribution is 4% higher. From our point of view, that is acceptable, because the “Ausbildungstarif II” increases annually by 3.5%. The fact that the IsarCard will be 20% higher is more notable.

The City of Munich proposed this intermediate solution. It is based on a compromise between the demands of the students and the offer of the transport companies. Are you happy with that?

At least, we are glad to have found a solution for the moment. We managed to ensure that the Semester Ticket will be continued – at least for the next winter semester. We will also try to work out a long-term solution. There will be a vote about this.

What is the schedule?

There was not enough time to organize a vote on the compromise for the winter semester, and the costs and effort to run that would have been disproportionate for just one semester. If all goes well, we are planning to hold a vote on a long-term solution during the summer semester. As a prerequisite, however, we need to analyze the market research study of the actual usage of the Munich transportation systems by students. The study was ordered by the Munich transport companies (MVV, MVG, S-Bahn and BOB) and it is the calculation basis for the new ticket price.

So far, the students were not able to take an in-depth look at the study, which was commissioned by the transport companies. It serves as a basis for the price negotiations.

Without insight into the results of the study, we don’t have a real basis for negotiations. The transport companies have to provide a sound basis for their price demands, which are based on the claim that the students are using the transport services more often that originally assumed. We would like to have the study checked by an independent institution. There are 110,000 students in Munich – and the turnover in connection with the Semester Ticket amounts to almost 40 million Euros. A large group of customers like this must be treated as an equal partner in negotiations.

(Interview: Verena Meinecke)

Nora Pohle (23) represents the TUM’s students in the Senate and the University Council. Her main university-related subjects are the Semester Ticket and the housing situation for students in Munich. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and is now studying Mathematics – plus Philosophy and Psychology (as a minor subject) at the LMU.

More information:
• Portrait Nora Pohle
• www.semesterticket-muenchen.de
• www.facebook.com/akmobilitaet