Grüne on transport

The Greens want municipalities to decide for themselves on speed limits in built-up areas and to step up speed checks. The goal is "Vision Zero," meaning road traffic with no deaths or serious injuries. All modes of transportation are to be linked on equal terms.

Cities and towns should decide on 30 km/h limits themselves. They should also check speeds more often. The Greens want no one to die in traffic anymore. Buses, trains, bikes and cars should work well together.

Public transit, sharing and on-demand services are to be linked into one network, with transfer points ranging from park-and-ride lots to bike lockers. On state roads within towns, the leeway in federal law for noise reduction and safety is to be used fully. Bodies such as the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Nahmobilität (local mobility working group) and the House of Logistics & Mobility are to be strengthened, and specialist planners trained. As an employer, the state wants to expand mobility management for its staff.

The Greens want to build at least 250 kilometers of separated bike lanes in the next term and get at least ten bike highways underway. On top of that come 250 new crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. Towns are to offer short, safe and barrier-free routes for walking.

The Greens want to build more bike lanes. There should be at least 250 kilometers of new ones. Ten fast bike routes should be added. There should be 250 new road crossings. Sidewalks and routes to school should get safer too.

The bike lanes are to run along federal and state roads, physically separated from car traffic. The aim is good bike connections between all municipalities and to public transit stops. Because most of the bike network and almost all of the walking network belong to municipalities, they are to be supported through the local mobility working group, coordinators in the counties and state funding. For walking, the platform lists barrier-free crossings, crossing aids and spaces where people feel safe. Expanded school mobility management is to make routes to school safer.

The Greens want a statewide mobility guarantee: buses and trains are to run at least once an hour everywhere, every day between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. Low-cost flat-rate tickets are to be developed further and the rail network expanded. Municipalities are to be allowed to levy charges to fund public transit.

The Greens want more buses and trains. In every town, a bus or train should run every hour. This applies from 5 in the morning until 11 at night. Tickets should stay cheap. New rail lines should be built.

As a vision, the platform names a "NachtNetz Hessen" (night network) for the hours from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. At the federal level, the party pushes for a discounted Deutschlandticket for students, apprentices and university students. The rail ring around Frankfurt is to be completed, and lines reactivated and electrified. Freight is to move to rail, with funding for company rail sidings. Volunteer-run community buses will keep getting support. Barrier-free stations and room for strollers and bikes are to become standard.

The Greens want to reduce car traffic in Hesse by one third by 2030. At the same time, a statewide network of charging stations is to be built so vehicles can run on electricity. The platform follows the principle of avoiding, shifting and improving traffic.

The Greens want less car traffic in Hesse. By 2030 it should be one third less. Cars should run on electricity. For this, there should be charging stations everywhere. Car sharing should help too. In car sharing, people share one car.

A charging infrastructure push is to fund an easily accessible charging network and plan ahead for future storage. Commercial and special vehicles such as garbage trucks are also to switch to climate-friendly drives. To cut car traffic, alternatives to the car are to be strengthened, and municipalities get support with traffic development plans. The platform sees municipal car sharing as a cheap alternative to owning a car. Delivery traffic is to shift to rail and ship and be reorganized for the last mile.

The Greens want to give priority to repairing roads and especially bridges. They reject the planned construction and widening of autobahns in the federal transport infrastructure plan as misguided. At the federal level, they push for a new plan aligned with the Paris climate goals.

The Greens want to fix old roads and bridges first. They think new or wider highways are wrong. The federal government has a plan for roads and rail. The Greens want a new plan. It should fit with climate protection.

The platform calls the autobahn projects in the current federal transport infrastructure plan a policy of the last century. At the federal level, the party wants a new consensus on infrastructure for federal transport routes. This includes the agreed dialogue on the existing plan with transport, environmental, business and consumer associations.

The Greens want to replace flights with greener transportation wherever possible and make the remaining air traffic climate neutral. At the federal level, they call for cutting subsidies for aviation and for stricter noise protection laws. Burdens around Frankfurt Airport are to go down.

Flying harms the climate. So the Greens want fewer flights. People should take the train more often. The government should stop supporting flying with money. It should get quieter around Frankfurt Airport.

Frankfurt Airport is to serve as a hub for flights, long-distance rail, long-distance buses, freight and regional transit. A dialogue with the operator is to produce a plan for climate-neutral airport infrastructure that takes the burden on the region into account. Research on low-emission flying and on ultrafine particle pollution is to continue. Flight procedures, routes and fees are to be designed so that noise keeps falling, including through financial incentives.

The Greens want a night flight ban from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. at Frankfurt Airport to relieve residents. Hesse's other airfields are to become climate neutral and receive less public money.

The Greens want less aircraft noise at night. No planes should fly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The federal government must change a law for this. Small airfields should get less money from the state.

According to the platform, the ban requires a change to the federal Air Traffic Act. Noise reduction technology that is available for aircraft should actually be used. Together with the aircraft noise commission, the burden on the whole Rhine-Main region is to be reduced. Hesse's other airfields are to be committed to climate neutrality, and public subsidies are to be cut. For Kassel-Calden, the Greens want to consider downgrading the regional airport to a lower airfield category.