There has been a change of operator on line 24 from Gießen via Heuchelheim, Lahnau to Wetzlar. From 1 April 2009, ESE Verkehrsgesellschaft GmbH, based in Staufenberg, will operate this line. The merger of the three transport companies Erletz (Staufenberg), Schwalb (Buseck) and Eise (Grünberg) was granted a corresponding permit by the regional council on 18 February 2009.
This authorisation was preceded by months of negotiations with Stadtwerke Gießen AG, which had also applied for a commercial authorisation for its previous line 24. In the licensing competition between Stadtwerke and ESE, a licence was also granted to the former concessionaire Stadtwerke Gießen AG. However, in order to avoid a lengthy legal dispute over the legal validity of the licence, Manfred Siekmann explains, Stadtwerke and ESE concluded a tariff application and cooperation agreement. In this way, both partners are endeavouring to ensure an attractive public transport service that is coordinated between the contractual partners for the duration of ESE GmbH's concession for line 24. Both partners are satisfied that a regional company will continue to operate this line.
As Udo Erletz explains, "ESE Verkehrsge-sellschaft GmbH is starting with a timetable adapted to passenger requirements. The basic timetable will remain the same, but we have made changes, especially in the morning peak," says Erletz. There will be no changes to the fare: the RMV fare and the special fare for the city of Giessen and the municipality of Heuchelheim in fare zone 1501 will continue to apply here. According to Dieter Schwalb, the company is also interested in continuity in terms of fares and is open to the wishes of the municipalities.
Stadtwerke will remain the point of contact for passengers, both for transport issues and the sale of season tickets, especially annual tickets. The contract also includes co-operation in the area of public relations. We are of course happy to use the mobility centre of Stadtwerke Gießen, says Michael Jung, in order to be able to continue to offer customers their usual contacts for all questions relating to mobility, in particular line 24.