München – At the turn of the year, the area of the Munich transport association will be larger. The districts of Landsberg am Lech and Weilheim-Schongau will join on January 1, 2025. What was already announced in the middle of the year is now a done deal: the district council of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district has voted unanimously to join the Munich transport association MVV on January 1st, 2026.
What does that mean? That a further 90,000 people from 22 communities will be added to the 3.7 million inhabitants in the MVV area (as of January 2025). According to MVV, the area will increase by around 1000 km² to 11,365 km². Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter sees the standardization of prices and timetables as not only good news for passengers from the district, but also for the tourism region. “This makes access to public transport much easier and also makes it more attractive for day-trippers from the greater Munich area to switch from the car to the train.” This also applies to international guests who arrive at Munich Airport and will no longer have to deal with different transport systems in the future. The Free State assumes “a large part of the costs incurred for joining and establishing new associations.”
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Relief from car traffic is urgently needed
Anton Speer, district administrator of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district, is pleased with the district council’s yes vote and speaks of a milestone in the district: “Efforts have been underway in our district to join the MVV for five years, and now the time has finally come.” This brings many opportunities and advantages for our citizens and our guests, said Speer.
MVV managing director Dr. Bernd Rosenbusch sees a particular advantage in relieving the region of car traffic: cars can then be left behind more often to take public transport. Bernreiter sees this as an advantage, “especially in a region that is characterized by tourism and urgently needs relief when it comes to car traffic.”
This is how the prices change in the MVV up to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
In a few examples, the MVV shows how the price structure will change in the future in the MVV area. According to the 2024 tariff, a one-way trip by train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Mittenwald would only cost 1.90 euros instead of 6.60 euros, and to Murnau 7.70 euros instead of 9.20 euros.
A simple train journey from Murnau to Oberammergau in the reformed MVV area would then cost 9 euros instead of 5.80 euros, and a journey from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Munich would cost 23.90 euros instead of the previous 26 euros. Bus connections would also become cheaper: for a single trip from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Ettal, passengers would pay 3.90 euros instead of 6.20 euros (tariff status 2024).
MVV to Augsburg? The negotiations are ongoing
The MVV could also expand north-west of Munich in the future. The Augsburg and Munich transport associations are in negotiations. According to a report in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, the AVV supervisory board has just voted unanimously in favor of the local transport merger. Nothing has been decided yet, but the path to the next expansion has already been paved. In August, the MVV shareholders said that they supported close cooperation in all variants between AVV and MVV. “We as MVV GmbH are of course open and positive about this,” said the Munich transport association.
