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Public transport boosted

April 3, 2012

Operators of Germany's public transport services have reported a record number of passengers for 2011. Spiraling petrol prices were behind the increase, with more drivers prompted to leave their cars at home.

https://p.dw.com/p/14Wqk
ARCHIV - Zahlreiche geladene Gäste warten am Samstag (10.12.2011) an der neuen U-Bahn-Haltestelle am Kaulbachplatz in Nürnberg (Mittelfranken) auf die offizielle Einweihungsfahrt der neuen Teilstrecke. Die Menschen in Deutschland steigen immer öfter in Busse und Bahnen. Die Statistik für 2011 weist 10,9 Milliarden Fahrten im Linienverkehr auf, so viele wie nie zuvor. Wie das Statistische Bundesamt in Wiesbaden am Dienstag weiter mitteilte, stieg die Zahl der Fahrten im Vergleich zum Vorjahr um 0,5 Prozent. Foto: Daniel Karmann dpa/lby +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Fahrgastrekord bei Bussen und BahnenImage: picture-alliance/dpa

More passengers than ever used Germany's public road and rail services in 2011, the National Statistics Office (Destatis) reported on Tuesday.

The office put the number of bus and train travelers last year at 10.9 billion people, a 0.5-percent increase year-on-year. Statistically, Germans made an average of 134 public transport rides.

The Wiesbaden-based Statistics Office said short-distance rail operators appeared particularly successful last year, attracting 2.4 billion inner-city train passengers–an increase of 2.3 percent over 2010 levels–plus another 3.7 billion people who used trams and subway trains.

Long-distance services lagging behind

5.3 billion Germans used public transport bus services in 2011, a slight 0.3-percent rise year-on-year.

By contrast, long-distance services experienced a 0.5-percent drop in passenger numbers last year. The overall number of passengers there amounted to 128 million people.

125 million used long-distance train services, while the remaining three million people preferred to travel by bus.

The statistical data were based on a nationwide survey of the country's 920 biggest rail and bus operators, which have at least 250,000 passengers annually.

hg/srs (dpa, dapd)