This is how the free day in Hanover on November 26 works
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This is how the free day in Hanover’s local transport works on November 26th
Crowded downtown: When the free day premiered three years ago, many passers-by came to Hanover by bus and train to stroll and shop.
© Source: Conrad von Meding
Hanover. Three years ago, the first free day in the Hanover region was an experiment with an uncertain outcome and turned out to be a success. After the break forced by the corona virus, the performance will be repeated on Saturday, November 26th, the day before the first Advent.
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In the entire tariff area of the Greater Hanover Transport Area (GVH), passengers can travel between midnight and 5 a.m. on Sundays on buses, city and suburban trains as well as regional trains without a ticket. The main attraction for strollers and shoppers will be Hanover’s city center, although: “There are also potentially attractive cities in the wider region,” says region president Steffen Krach (SPD).
More passengers, fewer cars
In 2019, traffic counts showed that around 16,000 fewer cars drove into the city of the state capital on the ticket-free day than on comparable days without this offer. The transport companies counted an increase in passengers of almost 40,000. “Our message is: Buy climate-friendly locally,” says GVH Managing Director Ulf-Birger Franz.
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With logo: Lord Mayor Belit Onay, GVH Managing Director Ulf-Birger Franz, Regional President Steffen Krach, Martin Prenzler from the City-Gemeinschaft, Police President Volker Kluwe and Üstra CEO Elke van Zadel have a hand in the free day.
© Source: Bernd Haase
For companies, the offer poses a logistical challenge. “We will put everything that rolls on rails and roads,” announces Üstra CEO Elke van Zadel. The city railways will be on the move with three-car trains and will run as usual. Üstra and Regiobus will use articulated buses and deliver a novelty on the Sprinter lines, which connect the surrounding towns with Hanover’s city center. “There will be passenger television for the first time,” explains van Zadel. The transport offer also includes the fact that the Sprintrad rental bike can be used free of charge for 30 minutes – not only by subscribers, as is usually the case, but for everyone.
Motorists should use Park and Ride spaces
If you want to come by car, you can drive to the multi-storey car parks, but otherwise you have to be prepared for road closures in the city area. “We appeal to drivers to park their vehicles far outside of the city center,” says police chief Volker Kluwe. By that he means the Park-and-Ride spaces at the Stadtbahn and S-Bahn stations as well as those in the north exhibition center car park, which the organizers are setting up especially for the free day. The Nunav app shows you how to get there and how busy it is.
The police will be present to avoid congestion at intersections by regulating traffic and to give visitors a sense of security. “Such events traditionally also attract criminals such as pickpockets,” explains Kluwe.
Krach claims signal for traffic turnaround
Krach and Hanover’s Lord Mayor Belit Onay (Greens) hope that the event will boost local transport as such and send a signal. “The traffic turnaround will only succeed if the prices for buses and trains drop significantly. That’s why it’s a tragedy that there is still no successor to the 9-euro ticket,” criticizes Krach.
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Three years ago, Hanover’s free day was a nationwide premiere and was criticized in advance by some municipal umbrella organizations as a waste of money and the wrong signal. Nothing more was heard of it after that, but other cities like Berlin have reproduced the model in the meantime. “That day reversed the situation for us back then,” recalls Martin Prenzler, Managing Director of the City Community of Merchants. While the late Sundays in Advent are usually the days with the most visitors and sales, in 2019 it was the free day.