Overview
- Verdi expects widespread shutdowns of city buses, trams and U- or streetcar services for 24 hours on February 2, involving roughly 100,000 workers at about 150 municipal operators, with Lower Saxony excluded due to a still-applicable peace obligation.
- In many regions operations will largely stop, including major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg; Erfurt confirms a full outage of all EVAG bus and tram lines, and Hamburg’s Hochbahn and VHH do not expect to run U-Bahn or most buses.
- Long‑distance and regional trains of Deutsche Bahn and many S‑Bahn networks are reported as not affected; in Berlin, BVG trams will run without passengers to keep recently de‑iced overhead lines functional, and the S‑Bahn adds S1 frequency and a temporary replacement bus between Gesundbrunnen and Wedding.
- Authorities warn of heavier road traffic, with the ADAC citing a high risk of jams during rush hours, and school authorities say attendance generally remains mandatory, though NRW’s voluntary mobility and punctuality guarantees do not apply to strike disruptions.
- Employer associations argue the demands are unaffordable and point to tight municipal budgets, further bargaining rounds begin in early to mid‑February, and a separate EVG action from 7:00 to 9:30 could affect select regional routes in parts of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern.