Around 15 percent of previous subscription customers canceled their tickets for buses and trains with BSAG. (Frank Thomas Koch)
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Lockdown, curfew, home office and FFP2 mask requirement make public transport a problem. The buses and trains are fuller than when they were first locked down last spring. According to Bremer Straßenbahn AG (BSAG), the utilization of the vehicles is still low. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, around 60 to 70 percent of passengers use the offer. This is also noticeable with regular customers: According to BSAG, around 15 percent of previous subscription customers canceled their tickets. These declines also correspond to the figures of the Bremen / Lower Saxony transport association (VBN) and the national trend and are accompanied by financial losses worth millions.
Since the renewed contact restrictions in November, the churn of regular customers has accelerated. While the VBN recorded a total of 87,500 Mia and Jobticket season ticket holders before the pandemic at the beginning of 2020, the number fell to 74,000 subscribers at the beginning of 2021 – a loss of 13,500 customers. “These are bitter numbers and really tough,” says VBN spokesman Eckhard Spliethoff. He cannot yet quantify what that means financially. Depending on the tier and tariff area, the prices vary between 56 and 215 euros. The annual losses are in the millions. The VBN includes more than 30 transport companies, including BSAG and Bremerhaven Bus und Verkehr und Wasser GmbH (VWG) from Oldenburg as the largest companies. The BSAG has the highest proportion of season ticket holders in the VBN with a total of around 51,000 billion customers.
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-Fear goes with you
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