Trains and buses offer passengers more space
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fromDennis Pfeiffer-Goldmann
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The public transport network in Frankfurt will be supplemented with the timetable change. The express bus then also travels to the eastern outskirts.
The demand in local transport has fallen to below 60 percent due to the fourth wave of the Covid 19 pandemic in Frankfurt – probably also because of the renewed obligation to work from home. In the summer, the number of passengers had meanwhile reached 80 percent of the pre-Corona level, explains Tom Reinhold, managing director of the urban public transport organization Traffiq.
Nevertheless, with the timetable change on December 12, the city is expanding the range of subways, trams and buses. “The aim is for people to get on board with a good feeling,” explains mobility department head Stefan Majer (Greens).
That is why security is the top priority, which is why the city also enforces compliance with the 3G and mask requirements with intensive controls. Since almost all passengers wear masks correctly and the trains and buses are well ventilated, the risk of infection is no higher than on a bike or in a car, explains Majer. This finding was revealed in a study by experts from the Berlin Charité in the spring.
As of the new timetable, passengers will be offered more space in the subway, among other places. The first of 23 new intermediate cars for the U4, U6 and U7 will go into operation. They are supposed to form seven 3-car trains of 75 meters in length, as well as eight 4-car trains. The latter are 100 meters long and the longest continuously accessible light rail trains in the world. The first XXL subway is scheduled to start on December 13th with the first trip of the U4 in the early morning.
There is also more space on the U2: There, four-car trains roll in the morning on two circuits, on which demand is particularly high, announced Tom Reinhold. U6 and U7 run every 10 minutes between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. So far, they have been rolling at a tight 7.5 cycle until 8 p.m., then only half as often. On Saturdays, the 10-minute cycle is an hour longer until 9 p.m. – for everyone who comes from shopping on the Zeil or wants to start out into the nightlife. The trams on lines 11 and 21 also run more often on Sundays: They run from 11 a.m. instead of 1 p.m. every 10 instead of 15 minutes.
46er drives much more often, lines are lengthened
The offer is being expanded on a larger scale to include three bus routes:
Line M46: The bus from the main train station to the Europaviertel – the forerunner of the U5 – becomes the Metrobus line and operates around the clock. In rush hour the buses run every three to four minutes, at night every half an hour. In return, the extension of the 64 bus in the Europaviertel will be given up. The upgrade to the Metrobus does not give rise to supply and demand, says Reinhold, which is why the connection between the two lines that has been planned in the meantime does not come about.
Line 54: The bus from Sindlingen via Höchst to Griesheim station is extended via Waldschulstraße to Rebstockbad and Leonardo-Da-Vinci-Allee in Rebstock. The line should only connect the Rebstock area, explains the Traffiq managing director when asked, why the line goes to the closed bathroom, but not to the nearby S-Bahn and U-Bahn transfer stations Messe or Festhalle.
Line 69: The bus will be extended from the Weißen Stein via Kurhessenstraße to the Markus Hospital and offers a connection between Ginnheim and Eschersheim and the main underground line with lines 1, 2, 3 and 8, which has been in demand for a long time.
An extension of the M32 line from the Ostbahnhof via Honsellbrücke and Deutschherrnviertel to the Südbahnhof, which has also been proposed by the city council for examination, does not come to the timetable change. “We’re thinking about that,” explains Tom Reinhold.
The new express bus route X95 starts from Büdingen via Erlensee via the A66 to the Enkheim subway station. Between Erlensee and Enkheim it saves more than half an hour of travel time and with 28 minutes it is almost as fast as a drive, advertises the responsible Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV).
Express bus threatens to get stuck in a traffic jam
The line could appeal to commuters from the surrounding area who previously drove by car through the chronically congested Hanauer Landstrasse or the street Am Erlenbruch. But the X95 only drives every hour, on weekends only every two hours. And at the end of the Autobahn, Borsigallee, the buses threaten to get stuck in a traffic jam.
Hesse’s Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) had not rejected a bus lane on the A66 as legal. Head of Department Majer explains that the RMV is responsible, the topic was still looked after by his predecessor. He wanted to “discuss this with the RMV”.