Wednesday, October 15
The U-Bahn turnstile proposal was swiftly met by cross-party opposition
The Berlin CDU’s proposal to install access barriers at all U-Bahn stations and finance them through higher ticket prices has been met with strong criticism from the SPD, the Greens and the BVG, with only the AfD giving its partial approval.
Berlin CDU party leader Dirk Stettner proposed on Monday to introduce barriers in all 175 Berlin U-Bahn stations, citing safety and the well-being of the city as the reasons for the proposal. According to Stettner, the plan would cost around €400 million over ten years and add only increase ticket prices by a few cents.
SPD frontrunner Steffen Krach vehemently rejected Dirk Stettner’s plan as “yet another proposal by the CDU that would put the [financial] burden upon others.” And that “ever-increasing ticket prices are an attack on public transport.” District mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Clara Herrmann (Grüne) has also criticised the proposal, stating “it is simply irresponsible to spend millions of euros on expensive turnstiles at underground stations while funds for the security summit, the ‘Clean City’ programme and park management are being cut in the draft budget.”
The Berlin AfD welcomed the CDU’s proposal to install access barriers, but emphasised that it would be absurd to finance them through higher fares. The BVG stressed it would be nigh impossible to create a closed system such as Paris or London due to structural constraints alone.
