NRW sets how bus and rail operators recover disabled-pass fare losses

Public-transport undertakings in North Rhine-Westphalia that carried severely disabled passengers free of charge are reimbursed for fare lossesNRW under §§ 228(7) and 231 to 233 of Sozialgesetzbuch Neuntes Buch (SGB IX)NRW. The accounting period is the calendar year. The operator must have carried the persons entitled under § 228(1) SGB IX with companions and aids free of chargeNRW, and must prove fare revenue under § 231(2) SGB IX from Nahverkehr under § 230(1) SGB IXNRW.

The standard case is flat-rate paymentNRW at the Land percentage under § 231(4) SGB IX published in the Ministerialblatt des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, applied to proven Nahverkehr revenue.NRW An operator proving by traffic count that its ratio of free-carried to other passengers exceeds that rate by at least one third receives, on application under § 231(5) SGB IX, the proven excess on top.NRW Counts follow the directive as a restricted full survey or a sample.

Applications go to the competent Bezirksregierung unless the Bundesverwaltungsamt is competent under § 233(1) sentence 3 SGB IX.NRW Entitled are the Personenbeförderungsgesetz (PBefG) licence holder or transferee operating in their own name and account, the Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen licence holder under § 6 Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz in rail local transport, and Bürgerbusvereine. A joint facility of a connected network with uniform fares may apply for members on written Vollmacht. Cross-border operators apply where the service starts under § 11 PBefG, or at the German border crossing of first entry for lines starting abroad; only-Land-border operators file separately outside NRW in time.

Claims must reach the authority within three years after the accounting year under § 233(1) sentence 3 SGB IXNRW, a material exclusion period the authority cannot extendNRW; receipt governsNRW and late claims lapseNRW. Advances of 80 percent of the last award are paidNRW half on 15 July and half on 15 NovemberNRW under § 233(3) SGB IX, with first-time operators using a fictitious prior-year base at the Land flat rate. An advance request counts as the reimbursement application.NRW Requests after the first payout date are served only in November, and requests after 15 November are out of time for that yearNRW.

Fare revenue means ticket-sale proceeds including luggage, wheelchair, aid, animal and surcharge income; pooled-network allocations count with the old key continuing until all members approve a new one. Cross-Land splits follow proven revenue per Land under § 233(5) SGB IX or wagon-kilometres, limited to the German leg under Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009. Excluded are public subsidies outside VAT, prior §§ 228 ff. payments, tariff and cooperation compensation, § 11a ÖPNVG NRW payments, non-local and special or occasional services, preference fares, freight, advertising, uncollectible and fictitious fares, municipal deductions, supplements, fees and dunning costs.

Revenue is shown verifiably and confirmed by an Abschlussprüfer under § 319 Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB) as exclusively Nahverkehr revenue free of excluded itemsNRW; only larger Kapitalgesellschaften and § 264a(1) HGB partnerships need the auditor certificate, others may use the steuerberatende Berufe, and Bürgerbusvereine under 15,000 Euro give a board declaration. Individual claims add tallies with extrapolation and variance detail plus an independent testat with Prüfbericht, waivable after a restricted full survey where testat costs exceed 10 percent of the last award or the award is below 15,000 Euro. Records are kept five years after the notice becomes final; the authority may check counts unannounced, void grossly defective figures, reduce other breaches to the flat rate, and charge recovery interest regularly only for gross negligence.

Legal basis is §§ 228 to 233 SGB IX with the NRW Richtlinie zur Erstattung der Fahrgeldausfälle im Nahverkehr nach § 231 SGB IXNRW, replacing the Runderlass of 20 January 2012 as amended 18 November 2016NRW.