LINK TO THE PETITION

SAVE THE SEMESTER TICKET! We call for an improvement to student mobility. Our demands: a ticket that’s no more than 129 euros per semester, with a nationwide validity, starting from 1 May!
 
We, the student unions in NRW, demand a solidarity-financed semester ticket with Germany-wide validity at a price of 129 euros per semester, building on the 49-euro-ticket and with a starting date of 1 May 2023. 
 
Our arguments:

• The semester ticket as a solidarity model must be preserved! This is the best way of guaranteeing affordable mobility for all students, because at the moment the semester ticket is cheaper than comparable tickets by a factor of ten.
  
• The federal and state governments have proposed an upgrade model in which students would have to pay the difference between the semester ticket and the 49-euro-ticket in order to travel throughout Germany using the semester ticket. However, this would mean that studentswould still have to pay 35 euros for their NRW-wide ticket, while holders of a job ticket can travel throughout Germany for a maximum of 35 euros a month. That is unfair!
  
• The upgrade model is also legally questionable. It jeopardises the continuation of the semester ticket, but abolishing the semester ticket would make mobility much more expensive for students!
  
• The 129-Euro-Ticket does not require any additional subsidies, as the price advantage – as before – is largely due to the solidarity financing!
  
• The introduction during the summer semester is possible: we proved that much when we dealt with the ramifications of the 9-euro-ticket. Therefore, there is nothing to prevent the introduction of the ticket in the middle of the semester or the refunding of semester fees that were paid in advance.

A Germany-wide, solidarity-financed semester ticket on 1 May is still possible – if it is made a priority in politics! Help us with your signature to finally get the politicians to act! 
 
But… Is it fair that students only pay 129 euros per semester for mobility throughout Germany?
 
Yes. 
 
Since the semester ticket is only possible thanks to a solidarity model in which all students pay the same amount – regardless of how much the individual person uses the ticket – it would become legally difficult to justify that students have to keep paying the same price as before, now that the “normal” tickets have become more affordable. 
 
Currently, students in NRW pay 35 euros a month for NRW-wide mobility. In order to combine the 49-euro-ticket and the semester ticket, an upgrade model has been proposed by the Bund-Länder-AG: from 1 May, students should be able to pay the difference between the semester ticket and the 49-euro-ticket and thus upgrade their ticket to a Germany-wide validity. 
 
Why is this not a good idea? 
 
The upgrade model is UNFAIR! 
 
With the proposed upgrade model, students will continue to pay 35 euros a month for a NRW ticket – the same amount that employees will pay in future for their job ticket, which is valid throughout Germany. 
 
The upgrade model is LEGALLY CONTENTIOUS! 
 
According to current assessments, the upgrade model is not legally permissible. As a result, legal proceedings are to be expected and the abolition of the semester ticket could be the consequence. The legality of solidarity-financed semester tickets has been justified by the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Administrative Court of Germany, among other things, on the grounds that the burden on individual students is low compared to the great advantage it brings to the student body as a whole. This is no longer the case with a solidarity contribution of 35 euros per month on average for the NRW semester ticket compared to the 49-euro-ticket. 
 
The abolition of the semester ticket would mean that mobility for students would become significantly more expensive – this contradicts the goal of the 49-euro-ticket. In other words, without a semester ticket, students would not even be able to use public transport throughout NRW for 35 euros a month. 
 
A nationwide solidarity ticket starting in the WINTER SEMESTER IS TOO LATE! 
 
Although the Bund-Länder-AG – in line with our demand – is proposing a solidarity ticket valid throughout Germany in the long term, NRW should not wait until all the federal states have agreed on a solidarity model and should not introduce the legally questionable and unfair upgrade model for students as a transitional measure. After all, the basic idea of the 49-euro ticket is easy-to-use and affordable public transport for all people. 
 
ROLE MODEL 9-EURO-TICKET 
 
The introduction of the 9-euro-ticket in the middle of the semester and the refunding of semester fees paid in excess worked smoothly last year. The procedures have already been tried and tested! Therefore, the only thing standing in the way of introducing a Germany-wide solidarity ticket for students in NRW on 1 May is politics! 
 
The solidarity model requires NO ADDITIONAL SUBSIDIES! 
 
The semester ticket is currently purchased by all student bodies in NRW as a major customer from the public transport companies. The low price does not come from subsidies or grants, but from the solidarity model in which all students pay the same contribution for the ticket – regardless of how often the individual uses the ticket. So far, this has made it possible for the semester ticket to be cheaper than comparable tickets by a factor of about ten. 
 
What about apprentices, pupils and other young people? 
 
Pitting different groups against each other is not the way to go! The semester ticket shows that cheap, socially beneficial and sustainable mobility is possible for everyone. This achievement should not be put at risk but should be used as a model for other user groups.

Verdi has again called for a strike, causing the DSW21 bus and train lines to come to a standstill on March 21.

To be more precise: From March 21 (3:30 a.m.) to March 22 (1:30 a.m.) there will be no tram and bus lines in Dortmund, Essen, Gladbeck, Schwerte, Lünen and Castrop-Rauxel.

In Dortmund, the NachtExpress lines (from Reinoldikirche) are also said to be affected.

NOT affected: Local trains, S-Bahn, H-Bahn and the airport special lines

IMPORTANT: Inform yourself right before your journey whether or not your buses/trains are running!

Source: www.derwesten.de 

Tomorrow the registration for the 200€ one-off student support starts and you still don’t have a BundID?

No problem! Because no matter if you’re lacking an eID, an Elster-Certificate or you simply do not wish to share all your personal details with the overbearing „Bund“, using the PIN-Method, you can still register for the 200€!

AND HOW DOES THAT WORK?

Starting tomorrow, you can head to the TU Campus Portal to receive not only the registration code needed by EVERY student for the registration, you can additionally grab your personal PIN-Number. Using the „Username & Password“-Registration option on the bundID-Website, you can use the PIN to verify your existence. 

This way, you can get through the entire registration process tomorrow in one go without sharing all your information. 

Everyone ready to rumble? AWESOME!

LEt’s all celebrate that after a whopping 6 months we’ll finally be able to register for our fast, unbureaucratic and uncomplicated crisis support money and receive the relief … soon. We hope.  

Our digital international feminist fight week starts today. Every day we post content about (in)equality and sexism on Instagram (@astatudortmund).

There is also a super diverse program! You can find all the details here:

In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. 

It has been over 100 years and yet here we are, still fighting. Even though for some, March 8th has succumbed to a „here’s some flowers for you“-day, we as AStA, together with the QFR, MIQ and ABeR committee, keep the fight in our line of sight. 

Is there more equality than there was in 1910? Hell yeah! Thanks to the incredible efforts of many women and men who have understood the value of feminism and fought for it every day. But we’ve not reached peak yet, not while there are still things in the world like gender pay gaps, mental loads or the horrors of child marriages, genital mutilation or the outrageously high numbers of femicides. 

So we celebrate once more, with power and aggression, not just the international women’s fight day, but an entire week filled with events. 

We as AStA of TU Dortmund University stand united in the fight for the rights of ALL women, no matter where they are from, which religion (if at all) they subscribe to, under which circumstances they were born or what body they were born into. Each and every one of them deserves the world. 

FIGHT WITH US!

Relaxing with a beer while doing something for your body and soul? Yeah, we’re down for that and let’s be real, so are you. 

• WHEN?
  March 10th, 5PM
• WHERE? 
  AStA Offices

Take an hour out of your busy day to whip your mind back into shape before you tackle your next assignment. And all that with a cold brew, who doesn’t love that. 

Oh and bring a mat!

So done with q cards, research and uncomfortable library chairs? 

Come by the AStA offices to give our new bean bag chairs a whirl. On top of that, there’ll be board games for a mental break and to get to know new people and a tea making corner. 

When?
Monday to Friday, 10AM-1PM, all through March!

Good news!

This month, rooms for free student work and exam preparation are available again on selected Saturdays in seminar room building 1 (SRG1). So come and learn! You can study here on February 4, 11, 18 and 25.

The building is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is manned by a porter. We wish you the best of luck for the exam phase!