Gießen plans to expand its bus offering – but there are setbacks!

Gießen plans to expand its bus offering – but there are setbacks!

From January 1, 2026, the people of Giessen can look forward to significantly improved bus connections. The city parliament decided on Thursday to expand the bus service, but not to the full extent planned. There is initially no money available to implement stages three, four and five of the local transport plan, and the decision has been made to postpone stages one and two for a further two years. There was broad support for the vote from the coalition of the Greens, SPD, Giessen Left, Free Voters and FDP, but this met with criticism, particularly from Walter Bien from the Gigg+Volt parliamentary group, who believes full implementation is feasible. The adjustments are a direct consequence of an EU Commission review process that has unclear effects on the financing structure, reports Gießener Anzeiger.

These changes bring some innovations to the Giessen bus network. On lines 3, 12, 13 and the newly introduced line 14, the frequency will be increased and additional route kilometers will be offered. The first stage of the local transport plan brings 130,000 additional kilometers per year, followed by a further 200,000 kilometers in the second stage, which could start on December 13, 2026 at the earliest. An overall increase in offerings of 13 percent is planned, resulting in additional annual costs of around 672,000 euros. Colleagues will report on the necessary changes Sunday morning magazine.

Challenges and expectations

Nevertheless, the city and its transport companies face major financial challenges. Passenger numbers are recovering daily after the Corona restrictions and are now even above the pre-crisis level, but a deficit of 4.8 million euros is expected for 2026. This means that the city has to cover MIT.Bus GmbH's deficits from its budget, which corresponds to an additional burden of around 4 million euros. These financial bottlenecks are not only a content problem for the people of Giessen, but are also reflected in a nationwide concern: The German Association of Cities warns of a growing underfunding of public transport and calls for secure basic financing in order to guarantee high-performance and high-quality offers, as in German Cities Day can be read.

This situation is forcing the city council to intensively address the upcoming changes to the local transport plan. The focus is particularly on the connection of the Europaviertel to the city bus service, which, according to Marianne Beukemann from the SPD, is “painfully” inadequate. In this context, it is important to set the course for the future so that the public transport network not only meets current requirements, but also supports any climate policy goals.