Press Number of bus and rail passengers down by 18% in the 1^st half of 2021

Press release No. 444 of 21 September 2021

• Decline on the 1^st half of 2020 due only to the 1^st quarter of 2021
• 20% more passengers used regular bus or rail transport services in the 2^nd quarter of 2021 than in the 2^nd quarter of 2020, during the first coronavirus wave
• Long-distance transport still affected more by declining passenger numbers than short-distance transport
• Number of passengers 42% lower than in the 1^st half of 2019 (pre-crisis level)

WIESBADEN – Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a considerably smaller number of passengers travelled by bus or rail in the 1^st half of 2021 than in the same period a year earlier. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that this was a decrease of nearly 3.5 billion people or 18% compared with the first six months of 2020. There was a particularly strong decline in the number of passengers using long-distance rail transport services in the 1^st half of 2021. 28.0 million people travelled by long-distance train, that is a 34% drop from the 1^st half of 2020. Long-distance transport by coach even slumped by 92% to 0.3 million passengers. Compared with the 1^st half of 2019, the number of passengers was down by a total of 42% in the 1^st half of 2021.