Apply for a permit for regular motor vehicle traffic

Prerequisites

Entrepreneurial requirements:

• You must prove your professional suitability
• You must prove the financial performance of the company
• You must demonstrate personal reliability
• The company headquarters or branch must be in Germany

Traffic-related requirements:

• The planned route only includes roads that are suitable for this
• The traffic must meet the requirements of local transport planning
• Transport may need to take into account the exclusive rights of other transport companies
• The traffic must correspond to the public transport interest

Documents required

• Application for approval for regular service with motor vehicles (surname, first name of the applicant, place of residence and place of business; for natural persons, birthday, place of birth; number of vehicles, vehicle type, capacity of the vehicles to be used)
• Overview map in which the requested route with stops and all existing railways, motor vehicle lines and shipping lines in the traffic area are shown, the latter insofar as they serve rush-hour traffic
• When applying for regular scheduled transport: an overview map in which the area applied for and all railways, trolleybus lines, motor vehicle lines and shipping lines already existing in the traffic area are entered, provided the latter serve commuter traffic
• If applicable. List of stops
• If applicable, timetable
• If applicable, list of shareholders
• If applicable, partnership agreement
• Traffic manager contract
• Certificate in tax matters from the responsible tax office (not older than three months)
• Certificate of clearance from all social insurance providers (not older than three months)
• Certificate of safety from the professional association (not older than three months)
• Audited annual financial statements, if necessary a certificate of equity in the year the company was registered and, if necessary, additional certificate (not older than one year)
• If applicable, extract from the commercial register
• Proof of professional suitability for the passenger transport operator from the IHK
• Evidence of personal reliability, in particular a certificate of good conduct to be presented to the authorities in accordance with Section 30 (5) BZRG
• If applicable, proof of the public service contract
• If applicable, information about existing permits
• If applicable, information on special conditions of carriage
• If applicable, information on the line-related tariff
• If applicable, information on the bindingly guaranteed standards
• Measures to achieve the goal of complete accessibility
• Information on compliance with the principles of climate protection and sustainability
• Description of the improvement in traffic service provided by the requested traffic
• Business registration
• Vehicle lists
• If applicable, cooperation agreement
• If applicable, information on driving and rest times

Please note

If several companies apply for approval for the same regular service, the approval authority decides in a selection process which application best suits the public transport interest.

Deadlines

Deadlines only begin to run when an application ready for decision is submitted.


If your application is complete, a decision will be made within 3 months.


If necessary, the deadline can be extended by 3 months.


For cross-border regular services, the processing period is suspended while the agreement with the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility is established.

Procedure

• Complete the application and submit it along with the required documents.
• The approval authority will check the application for completeness and will contact you if you have any questions.
• The legal requirements for a permit for regular motor vehicle traffic are being examined.
• Before making a decision on the application, the licensing authority carries out a hearing process with external parties involved (e.g. companies that already offer regular services, cities, municipalities or even districts, trade supervisory authorities and chambers of commerce and industry).
• If all conditions are met, you will be granted approval and an approval certificate will be sent to you once the decision becomes effective. The validity of the approval is a maximum of 10 years.

Processing time

The processing time may vary between the responsible approval authorities.


The processing time can depend, among other things, on whether all documents relevant to the decision have been submitted, whether subsequent requests for documents become necessary and whether objections to the application were raised during the hearing procedure

Fees

According to the Ordinance on Costs for Official Acts in Remunerated and Commercial Passenger Transport by Motor Vehicle (PBefGKostV), the amount of the fees is based in particular on:

• the term of the approval


• the total line length


• the number of daily or weekly trip pairs

Legal remedies

• contradiction

Legal basis

§ 42 Passenger Transport Act (PBefG)

§ 43 Passenger Transport Act (PBefG)

§ 44 Passenger Transport Act (PBefG)

§ 52 Passenger Transport Act (PBefG)

You need a permit if you want to transport people in motor vehicles on regular services. For this you can submit an application to the responsible licensing authority.
The following distinction must be taken into account when driving motor vehicles:

• Line bus traffic
• Special forms of scheduled transport (commuter transport, school trips, market trips, theater trips)
• Scheduled transport

After your application has been checked and if all requirements are met, you will receive approval from the responsible approval authority. The validity of the approval is a maximum of 10 years. After expiry, you can apply for a reinstatement.