Öffentlicher Nahverkehr: Studie: Ein Viertel der Deutschen schlecht mit ÖPNV versorgt

The think tank Agora Verkehrswende has found that 21 million people in Germany, or roughly a quarter of the population, are inadequately or not adequately served by public transportation. For around 5.6 million of them, the service does not even meet the lowest quality standard, according to the new ÖV-Atlas by Agora Verkehrswende.

The issue primarily affects people in more rural areas. A decent service level is considered to be around a 250-meter public transport stop from one's home, with buses running every half hour on weekdays. The worst-served individuals rely on cars. The most affected regions include communities in Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, and Saxony-Anhalt, as well as parts of Bavaria outside the major urban areas.

Frankfurt ranks number one, with about 30 million people being very well or adequately served by bus and train. This group primarily lives in large cities or their surroundings. In major cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, Frankfurt am Main has the best service. Close behind are Stuttgart, Munich, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf, and Darmstadt.

In the country regions, the top performers include the Munich district and the Hannover region, while the flat states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, and Baden-Württemberg fare better. Rhineland-Palatinate offers the best balance between urban and rural service provision. In contrast, Bavaria, Saxony, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern exhibit a significant disparity between strong centers and poorly served areas.