SPD on transport

The SPD wants to continue the Bildungsticket (student transit pass) at 15 euros a month and extend its validity to all of Saxony. Young people in vocational training, at university or in voluntary service are to get a social fare of 29 euros a month based on the Deutschlandticket.

The SPD wants to keep the student transit pass. It should still cost 15 euros a month. Later it should be valid in all of Saxony. Trainees, university students and volunteers should get a pass for 29 euros a month.

According to the platform, almost 200,000 school students and people in voluntary service use the Bildungsticket. Its funding is to be secured for the long term. The low-cost offer for young people is to build on the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass), while the solidarity model of the university semester ticket is to be preserved. For the Deutschlandticket as a whole, the SPD backs a uniform nationwide solution that includes a social fare.

The SPD wants to expand Saxony's position in electric mobility through research funding and support the auto industry through its transition. Electric cars are to be affordable and charging infrastructure available close to home; the platform also backs autonomous driving and hydrogen for logistics.

The SPD wants to make Saxony a state of electric cars. The state should fund research on this. Electric cars should be affordable. There should be enough chargers near people's homes. Self-driving vehicles should also be tested.

According to the platform, almost the entire electric mobility value chain is already based in Saxony. The SPD wants to continue the auto industry's transformation networks and start an automotive dialogue. An attractive used-car market is meant to make electric cars affordable. Autonomous driving is to be tested and made available for public transit and company logistics. Investments in hydrogen applications for mobility, for example at the center in Chemnitz, are to continue.

The SPD wants to raise public transit's share of all trips, extend the core network and run services more frequently. A Saxon mobility company is to plan rail and regional bus services under state responsibility and implement a binding state transit plan.

The SPD wants more buses and trains in Saxony. They should run more often and reach more places. 80 percent of people should have a stop nearby. The state should plan transit better itself in the future. Ticket rules should be the same all over Saxony.

According to the platform, about 74 percent of the population is connected to the core network today, meaning a regularly running service within 600 meters; that share is to rise to 80 percent. Funding is to be secured for the long term. The transit associations are to align rules for taking bicycles and pets on board and discounted fares for children and young people statewide. Neighborhood and flexible buses, on-call buses and park-and-ride lots at stations are to be expanded, as are the S-Bahn networks around Dresden and Leipzig and the Chemnitz Model. The SPD wants to provide more investment money for accessible vehicles, stops and ticketing systems.

The SPD wants to speed up bike path construction by shortening planning and dropping parts of the environmental impact assessment. Fast cycling routes are to link big cities with their surroundings, and walking is to get more weight in road and transit funding.

The SPD wants to build bike paths faster. Planning should take less time. Fast bike routes should link big cities with nearby areas. Walking should also become safer and easier. The goal is that no one dies in traffic.

The platform concedes that bike path construction is too slow despite better funding. The expansion of cycling networks is to be coordinated and linked with other modes, for example through modern bike parking at transit stops. Funding for "wegebund" is to keep helping municipalities organize cycling and walking. For walking, the SPD names accessibility, safety and quality of public space as criteria. The road safety program is to continue with the "Vision Zero" goal, with special protection for non-motorized road users and visible traffic enforcement.

The SPD wants to abolish Straßenausbaubeiträge (charges levied on property owners for road upgrades) across Saxony to relieve residents. In road building, maintenance is to keep priority over new construction; new roads are to be limited to necessary gap closures.

The SPD wants to end the charges for road upgrades. Today, residents pay these when their street is renewed. Existing roads should be repaired first. New roads should only be built where there are gaps in the network.

Straßenausbaubeiträge are charges that municipalities can levy on adjacent property owners when a road is renewed. The platform points out that funding for municipal road construction has been simplified and lump-sum transfers to municipalities raised. In the future, funding is to go mainly to cross-regional projects and environmentally friendly overall concepts that also include cycling and walking.

The SPD wants to upgrade several rail lines, including the Dresden–Prague high-speed line, reopen disused lines and electrify more of them. More freight is to move from highways to rail.

The SPD wants more and better rail lines in Saxony. A fast line should run from Dresden to Prague. Old lines should go back into service. More goods should travel by train instead of by truck.

Besides Dresden–Prague, the links Berlin–Cottbus–Görlitz, Leipzig–Chemnitz, Dresden–Görlitz and Kamenz–Hoyerswerda are to be upgraded. For reopenings, the platform names Meißen–Döbeln and Marienberg–Pockau-Lengefeld; the Muldentalbahn and Beucha–Trebsen are to stay under consideration. For freight, the SPD wants to expand transit routes between Western and Eastern Europe and link Germany and Poland via Lusatia with an intermodal network. This is meant to take pressure off Saxony's highways.

The SPD wants a social fare version of the Deutschlandticket for 29 euros a month for seniors with low pensions. Local transit is to run more often and be accessible in cities and rural areas so that older people stay independently mobile.

Older people with small pensions should ride buses and trains cheaply. The ticket should cost 29 euros a month. Buses and trains should run more often. There should also be on-call buses. Everything should be usable without barriers.

The social fare builds on the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass). The plan includes good transit infrastructure, more frequent service and more supplementary options such as on-call, neighborhood or flexible buses. Because of the aging population, the platform also names accessible housing and accessible transit as needs. In rural areas, cultural, sports and leisure facilities should be easy to reach by public transit.