Could Croatian Bus Companies Introduce Smarter "German Model"?

June the 12th, 2022 - Could struggling Croatian bus companies, who have had very little help from the state and have been in troubled waters ever since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic at the start of 2020 introduce the so-called German model? It seems the will is there.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, ever since June the 1st this year, the German Government has been testing out a special model in which it has decided to stimulate public transport use and has offered a ticket of 9 euros per month for the use of both buses and trains. The reaction of the German people was rather unsurprisingly fantastic and the tickets quickly sold out.

Public transport is the only real alternative to travel during these times in which we've seen such drastically rising fuel prices, and the examples of Germany and even neighbouring Slovenia show how this can actually work excellently.

The German Government's idea for bus transport pricing through the aforementioned special model saw tickets sell out rapidly because for 27 euros, people can literally use these services as much as they want. If a bus ticket is bought in Hamburg, for example, it can be used without any problems in Berlin or any other German city, it can also be used on some of Germany's DB intercity trains.

"Public transport is the only alternative to travel for many people with such high fuel prices and this is being widely recognised by European countries. We hope that the example of Germany will show the way this should be handled to the Croatian Government and the relevant ministry in order to help people out, because this is the only real solution,'' said Hrvoje Mestrovic, president of the Coordination of Public Liner Carriers at the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP).

Croatian bus companies have, as has been mentioned, been dealing with an extremely unfavourable economic situation for a very long time now, with little to no attention having been paid by the state, in their opinion. Trying to balance business and preserve thousands of jobs continues to be a huge burden. Mestrovic pointed out that the state also has a clear benefit from introducing such a plan for Croatian bus companies because the money will be returned to the state treasury for a large amount of the tickets sold, which we have witnessed in both Slovenia and Germany.

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