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The reading

Public transport is an important part of many peoples' lives. We need it to go to work, visit family and friends, go sightseeing and go about our daily business. However, in many countries, trains, buses and subways are very expensive. A new scheme in Germany has been launched to make getting around easier. Transport companies have got together to create the Germany Ticket. This allows people who buy it to use all local and regional transportation across the country for just 49 euros ($53.90) a month. The ticket is valid for all forms of public transport in Germany except for long-distance intercity trains. More than three million tickets were sold on the day of the launch.

Transportation bosses hope the new Germany Ticket will be good for the environment. They want more people to leave their cars at home and use more environmentally friendly forms of transportation. Germany's Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, welcomed the new ticket. He said it is "an easy and cheap offer that will make public transit more attractive and help us to achieve our climate goals". Germany aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. A transportation analyst said the Germany Ticket was a "revolution" for Germany. He said: "We need a scheme that puts rail before road and get passengers onto trains and buses". Another analyst hopes other countries will start a similar ticket.


Sources:

  • https://apnews.com/article/germany-public-transit-cheap-ticket-trains-metro-3d83f1a35ab8e3945b8034b9bd511c29
  • https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-29/germany-sets-the-new-standard-for-cheap-national-mass-transit
  • https://www.huffpost.com/entry/germany-public-transit-ticket_n_644f94c9e4b0408f3e5a76a5

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