Revolution in local transport: Prignitz district takes over bus lines from 2026!

Revolution in local transport: Prignitz district takes over bus lines from 2026!

Prignitz, Deutschland - The district of Prignitz faces an important upheaval in the area of local public transport. From August 1, 2026, bus traffic will be handed over to the hands of the district. The Verkehrsgesellschaft Prignitz (VGP) takes responsibility and has set high goals: around 3.7 million kilometers are to be covered annually. According to Maz-online.de This step was unanimously decided in July 2025 and is the rest of the Rekommunalization that was decided by the district council in May 2024.

For the implementation, 70 to 80 buses have to be procured, whereby it is planned to purchase 40 vehicles themselves - including 30 new vehicles. Hans-Jürgen Hennig, the interim manager of the VGP, has managed the resurrection of the company since March 2025 and emphasizes the urgency of the preparations, especially since longer delivery times for new vehicles are foreseeable.

restructuring of local transport

The district not only plans to procure new vehicles, but also a comprehensive restructuring of local transport. A district's own company should steer the fortunes in public transport in the future. The current operator, the ARGE Prignitzbus, remains active until July 31, 2026 because she won the tender. According to nordkurier.de help to design the necessary transition period.

District Administrator Christian Müller has already emphasized the advantages of a municipal company, in particular the increased flexibility when booking buses for schools and clubs. In addition, the legal examination for the withdrawal of public transport has already been completed to the municipal hands. However, it remains unclear whether a new public tender will be necessary for these services.

Environmentally friendly solutions and personnel requirements

An important focus is on the environmental friendliness of the new bus operation. The VGP plans to operate the new vehicles with the environmentally friendly climate hiesel HVO100 and also provides for a switch to electric vehicles as a long-term goal. A total of 120 to 130 bus drivers are required to carry out the bus traffic, with the core team "Start VGP" working on the realization since 2024, including personnel recovery.

What does this mean for the commuters and the student transportation in the district? The student transport is a mandatory task of the district, which can be reliably operated again with this restructuring. The existing timetable structure should first be taken over, which makes the transition easier.

public transport in focus

The discussion about public transport and improvements in Germany remains up to date. The BUND , for example, calls for urgent tariff improvements and the development of a successor offer to the 9-uro ticket. These topics are in the context of the planned restructuring of local transport and the upcoming challenges in the entire mobility sector.

With these far -reaching changes, the district of Prignitz not only wants to optimize local transport, but also design an environmentally friendly and flexible local public transport for the future.