Martin Sonneborn, a satirist and the chairman of the party “Die Partei”, demands a free public transportation system. It should operate without tickets and be “free of charge”, he told the “New Osnabrück Times”. “If 35 French cities can offer this, we can too” he said.
The EU parliamentarian also renewed his demand to downgrade the offense of fare evasion from a criminal to an administrative offense. “Every year, around 7,000 federal citizens are imprisoned for ‘fare evasion’ sometimes on foot. People without means, who cannot pay the fine, and thus serve a so-called ‘alternative imprisonment'”, he said. The approximately 200,000 annual proceedings hold the courts from more important matters.