Regional rail and S-Bahn ridership increased by 2.1% compared with the first half of 2013 to reach 1.2 billion, while passenger numbers on Germany's light rail and U-Bahn networks rose 1.8% to 1.9 billion.
The performance of long-distance rail was less positive, with traffic declining 0.5% year-on-year to around 62 million passengers. This may be partly explained by the opening of the market for long distance bus services, which saw passenger numbers climb 8.1% in the first half of the year to 1.4 million. The actual figure may be even higher as recently-established long-distance bus companies are not included in the statistics.
