NRW transport company: 5% more passengers in the first quarter of 2025!

NRW transport company: 5% more passengers in the first quarter of 2025!

The public transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia can look forward to a pleasing increase in passenger numbers. In the first quarter of 2025, a total of 546 million passengers were transported compared to the previous year, which corresponds to an increase of five percent. These positive developments are a good sign for the recovery after the deep cuts during the corona pandemic n-tv reported. The demand for local transport services has increased continuously in recent years, and the current figures are even higher than the 2020 level.

There has been a remarkable turnaround in local rail transport in particular: passenger numbers have almost doubled, from 19.2 million in the first quarter of 2020 to 39 million now. The numbers have also risen sharply in the bus and tram sector, which underlines the general trend reversal in local public transport.

Positive feedback and challenges

However, the rising numbers are not without challenges. Christof Rasche, the transport policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, expresses concerns about the current personnel policy in local transport. Loud Local transport NRW He is critical of the dependence on temporary workers and demands that permanent, permanent train drivers with solid training are needed instead of finding short-term solutions. This confirms an insufficient overview of future personnel development. Rasche describes the situation as an “indication of poverty” and emphasizes the urgency of more comprehensive personnel planning.

Nevertheless, trams and buses are enjoying growing popularity. The trams recorded around 176.8 million passengers, an increase of 11.9 percent compared to the previous year. 350.1 million passengers and an increase of 4.4 percent were also reported for buses.

Sustainability and profitability

The role of transport companies in North Rhine-Westphalia is important not only for achieving transport and mobility goals, but also for environmental protection. The VDV member companies transport 26 million passengers every day, which replaces around 18 million car journeys. This is a significant step towards more environmentally friendly mobility. VDV highlights that public transport companies traveled a total of 82 billion passenger kilometers in 2023 and were able to save 10 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions through their operations.

The sustainable mobility economy also has a significant economic effect: a value creation effect of 82.7 billion euros shows how important this industry is for the German labor market. Over 1.7 million employees work in the sustainable mobility industry, which represents a clear stimulus for the entire economy.

Overall, it is clear that local public transport in North Rhine-Westphalia is not only an important factor for the mobility of the population, but also makes a significant contribution to combating climate change and strengthening the local economy. However, the challenges in personnel planning and policy must be addressed in order to maintain this positive trend.