BSW on transport

The BSW wants to reverse the phase-out of new combustion engine cars and support a range of drive technologies instead of electric mobility alone. Driving is not to become more expensive, because many people depend on their cars.

The BSW wants to lift the ban on combustion engine cars. These are cars that run on gasoline or diesel. Driving should not get more expensive. The state should support different engines, not only electric cars.

Support is to go to new drive technologies, alternative fuels and more efficient combustion engines. Fuel is to be inexpensive so that everyone can freely choose how to travel. For electric cars the platform demands low-priced models, more research on solid-state batteries, for example, and battery cell production in Germany. The BSW also wants to act against high prices at highway rest stops, which it attributes to a monopolist.

The BSW proposes state-subsidized leasing for environmentally friendly cars made in Europe, including fuel-efficient combustion models. It is meant to keep low- and middle-income people mobile in regions with little public transit and to support the car industry.

The BSW wants cheap car leasing with help from the state. Leasing means renting a car for a longer time. It applies to fuel-saving cars made in Europe. Only people with low or normal incomes can get it.

Support is to go to vehicles from Europe, including combustion cars that use less than five liters of fuel. The monthly starting rate is to be about as high as the price of the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass). Income limits modeled on France are to restrict the subsidy to low and middle earners. The platform sees this as a rescue program for the German and European car industry that secures jobs and creates incentives for fuel-efficient models.

The BSW wants to repair and expand roads, bridges and other transport routes with a large investment program. It is to be paid for through a reform of the debt brake.

The BSW wants to repair broken roads and bridges. New roads should be built where they are needed. For this the state should be allowed to borrow more. The rule on this is called the debt brake.

More money is to be available for road construction and bridge renewal. The platform argues that saving on infrastructure causes higher costs later and that its poor condition costs companies and workers time and money. Decayed infrastructure is to be repaired, and new roads are to be built where needed. The poor state of many bike paths and safe bike paths in city centers are also mentioned.

The BSW wants the railway to focus on domestic local, long-distance and freight service and to become a reliable "Bundesbahn" (federal railway) again. Bus and rail are to get cheaper, and the Deutschlandticket is to stay affordable for good.

Trains should be on time and reliable again. The railway should be a public company. Buses and trains should cost less. The Deutschlandticket should stay. More goods should travel by train.

The model is a coordinated regular-interval timetable for rail and local transit as in Switzerland. Tracks and trains are to be run together in one public company; the platform sees privatization plans as a cause of the problems. More traffic is to move to rail, with lower track access charges and more freight capacity. The BSW considers this more effective for the climate than other subsidized climate projects.