#385: BVG is losing it, bureaucratic ping pong and another delayed deportation
Fewer ticket checkers on public transport!!!
Dear 20 Percent,
I’m no good at these big commemoration thingies. Of course I’m glad the war ended 80 years ago and of course Berlin played a central role but I’m just not sure why I should have headed out to some memorial rather than my neighborhood ice cream store yesterday — it’s not like I can personally thank someone involved in the battle or buy them an ice cream.
Am I being insensitive? I don’t know. I just don’t feel it — though I feel the historic importance generally.
But then again, I opined to my (German) wife last week while walking on the guard path on the Berlin Wall’s death strip about how the Cold War wasn’t really real for our children — moving to Berlin felt almost revolutionary after growing up afraid of East Germany and everything further east.
“You sound like my old relatives talking to us about the Second World War,” she said.
Have a good weekend!
Andrew
BVG in the red
And you know what BVG’s not feeling? Making money. It turns out they’re as bad at finances as keeping public transport on time. Berlin’s yellow public transport provider last year fell €56 million into the red and expects the shortfall to double this year to €113 million, according to Tagesspiegel (paywall). The projected loss doesn’t yet include the most recent labor agreement (another €140 million in costs) but the result is a likely further increase in ticket prices without a corresponding improvement in service. The financial difficulties mean BVG doesn’t plan on expanding its services until 2027. The bus, tram and subway provider had a profit of just under €4 million in 2023 and will likely look to banks to cover the deficit but Berlin itself could ultimately be on the hook — it owns BVG.
Two to go
A Berlin administrative court isn’t feeling the need to deport pro-Palestinian protestors and Tuesday delayed the deportation of a second of four that Berlin’s interior ministry wants to eject from Germany, according to taz. Irish artist Roberta Murray won an injunction to remain in Berlin until a court can rule on her deportation. Previously the court granted a similar injunction for compatriot Shane O’Brien. Berlin’s interior minister wants the four — two Irish citizens as well as a Pole and a Yank — thrown out for participating in the violent occupation of a Free University building last year. Although they stand accused of various protest-related crimes, they have not yet been convicted of anything. The main case questioning the deportations could take years, their lawyer has said.
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An end to Tischtennis
If it works, I could get behind a commemoration of mayor Kai Wegner’s (CDU) keystone project, which is expected to get a first reading in front of the Berlin parliament next week and become law this summer, according to Tagesspiegel. Wegner wants to reform bureaucratic responsibilities to assign specific tasks to either Berlin or borough governments. Tasks — like installing a crosswalk near a school — are often put off as Berlin and local authorities argue over who is responsible in what is known as “bureaucratic ping pong”. The reform includes a catalog of who is responsible for about 4,500 different tasks in Berlin but the final sticking point is the committee that will decide responsibilities if they aren’t included in the catalog. The catalog is to become part of Berlin’s constitution.
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Factoid
Fewer (thuggish) ticket checkers were active on Berlin public transport last year as subscriptions increased, thanks in part to the Deutschlandticket, according to Tagesschau. Last year, just 3.7 million people were asked to prove they had tickets, down from nearly 8 million in 2019. 1 million were asked in trams, down from 2.3 million in 2019, while there was no change in buses. However, in the S-Bahn, which is operated by Deutsche Bahn, the number jumped to 11.1 million from 9.3 million. Revenue from Schwarzfahren didn’t change as dramatically: BVG took in €6.4 million compared with nearly €8 million. The S-Bahn didn’t provide any figures.
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I think the ‘feeling’ you speak about in relation to Liberation Day or VE Day, whichever you choose to call it, here in Berlin is almost non-existent, which I think is a good thing.
And especially so when you compare it to what happens in the UK on the same day, when delusions of grandeur hark back to a time when there was at least a grain of grandeur to celebrate, as opposed to today’s lunatic and desolate Brexit-benighted state.
But sometimes I also think Germany’s apparent disinterest, disengagement, insouciance or whatever you want to call it is a cause for some concern. Because the past needs acknowledging and accepting, otherwise the possibility of repeating it increases. And nobody wants that, not even the lunatic AfD!
Hope you enjoyed the ice cream, Andrew!
I had a brief moment of panic when I saw that Tischtennis headline. Like, "they may take our Radwege, but they'll never take our ÖFFENTLICHE TISCHTENNISPLATTEN!!"
But actually, even for a CDU detractor like myself, reducing the amount of "wir sind nicht dafür zuständig" in various levels of government sounds like a great idea.