Ute Bonde, Managing Director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB).
© dpa
The Managing Director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB), Ute Bonde, is to become the new Senator for Urban Mobility, Transport, Climate Action and the Environment. This was announced by the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) on Friday, three days after the resignation of the previous Senator Manja Schreiner (CDU).
Bonde is an outstanding and extremely experienced transport expert, Wegner explained his personnel proposal. The 57-year-old is to be sworn in at the next session of the House of Representatives on May 23. Last Tuesday, Schreiner asked to be dismissed from the black-red Senate after one year in office. The 46-year-old lawyer thus drew the consequences of the withdrawal of her doctorate.
Bonde is a member of the CDU and has been Managing Director of the VBB, one of the largest transport associations in Europe with more than 30 member companies, since May 2023. Prior to this, the lawyer worked for many years at Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), where she was an authorized signatory from 2019 to 2023. She also gained experience in administration: From 1995 to 2005, Bonde worked in the Senate Department for Finance, followed by four years in economic administration.
Bonde had demonstrated her great expertise at BVG and most recently at VBB, according to Wegner's statement. "She has made a name for herself in the expansion of local public transport and stands for a transport policy that takes all road users into account," said the head of government. As Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment - as she is officially known - Bonde will be responsible for one of the largest and most important departments in the Senate with numerous hotly contested issues. She is regarded as a proven expert in local public transport.