{"id":444735,"date":"2023-05-08T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=444735"},"modified":"2023-05-08T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T04:30:00","slug":"is-free-public-transport-realistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/is-free-public-transport-realistic\/","title":{"rendered":"Is free public transport realistic?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By the end of this year, the citizens of the French city of Montpellier \u2013 home to 300.000 people \u2013 will travel for free on its bus and tram lines. Montpellier is the largest city in the country to promote this policy, which has already existed in smaller French towns \u2013 such as Dunkirk, Compi\u00e8gne, and Aubagne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decade, more and more cities worldwide have been promoting free-fare public transport (FFPT) schemes. The biggest city to do so is the Estonian capital Tallinn, whose residents can travel for free since 2013. Seven years later, Luxembourg became the first world country to abolish fares fully. Tens of towns offer free public transport in the United States, and the Chinese city of Chengdu \u2013 inhabited by twenty million people \u2013 has several free-fare bus lines. Ecological, social, and political reasons are behind these initiatives, which are happening in many ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defining free public transport<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are many ways to implement free public transport models. A study<\/a> by Wojciech K\u0119b\u0142owski \u2013 a post-doctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB<\/a>) \u2013 distinguishes between full and partial free public transport. In full-fare abolition systems, tariffs don\u2019t apply to the great majority of transport services and users most of the time. Examples of fully free-fare models include the aforementioned Luxembourg and Tallinn, as well as the Portuguese Cascais. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also multiple ways to establish partial free public transit: by area, time of the day, or social group. In the first case, cities offer free access to transport on specific routes or areas \u2013 such as Amsterdam\u2019s local ferries. Some other municipalities provide free access to public transport at certain time slots \u2013 in Chengdu, buses are free to ride before seven a.m. Children, students, and older adults can travel for free in many European cities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his studies,  K\u0119b\u0142owski analyzed several FFPT policy application case studies. Given the nature of public transport \u2013 being a public good as education or health  \u2013 he suggests treating it similarly to them, then drawing a more provocative comparison with streetlights. \u201cWe don\u2019t pay for every lamppost we pass on the way at night. It\u2019s a kind of social contract that we \u2013 as a society \u2013 agree on having such a service in place, whether you need it or not,\u2019\u2019 he told Innovation Origins. \u201cWe also pay for it in parts of our city or region where we might never go to. But it\u2019s like a basic level of service, and it doesn\u2019t mean it is a low-quality one,\u201d he specifies. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Just like a taxi, you can also book a public transport bus on demand<\/div>
Public transport is not always conveniently arranged. Sometimes travelers have to deal with an overcrowded bus, and sometimes an empty bus drives away from the stop.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The effects of free public transport in Italy <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Abolishing fares isn\u2019t as straightforward, though. It means that whoever is responsible for public transport \u2013 a municipality, a region, or a province \u2013 has to invest more money in it, as fares revenues are gone. Whereas in most public transit systems fares revenue represents a marginal part of the funding, it is the largest source of income in bigger cities, \u2013 such as London. Paolo Beria is an associate professor of applied economics at the Politecnico di Milano<\/a>, focusing on transport and mobility. He authored \u2013 alongside Andrea Debernardi and Gabriele Filippini from Meta S.r.l.<\/a> \u2013 of a modeling simulation<\/a> estimating the economic and environmental effects of scrapping fares on Italy’s local and regional public transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their model can esteem freight and passenger mobility, traffic levels on different networks, and several environmental pressure indicators. \u201cWherever the public transport offer is ineffective or nearly nonexistent, the outcome of abolishing fare costs is almost nil. If out of a hundred people, only two used public transport \u2013 before abolishing fares \u2013 they would be three after scrapping fare costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, abolishing transport fares is effective where public transport is, with respect to costs and time, a reliable alternative to cars. Beria mentions the example of some train routes connecting smaller towns with Milan. \u201cHowever, if abolishing fares in this segment increases the demand, more money must be invested to strengthen the service\u2019s capacity, which is already limited where public transport works well,\u201d the professor stresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"free
A metro station in Rome – \u00a9 Marco Chianese, Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quality public transportation or free one? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A dilemma arises: making public transport free of charge or improving its quality? K\u0119b\u0142owski believes these two aspects can coexist. \u201cWhere free public transport has been developed, this measure didn\u2019t coincide with a decrease in quality. In the end, it\u2019s a very political measure. In Europe, the investments in transport networks aren\u2019t covered by fares revenue, which goes for maintenance and personnel costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several Italian cities experimented with or implemented FFPT initiatives \u2013 Genoa allows traveling for free on the metro, lifts, and cable railways \u2013 while others diminished the subscription costs. In Puglia\u2019s main city Bari, buying a yearly bus subscription now costs \u20ac20 \u2013 it came for \u20ac250 in 2022. Beria believes these actions are merely oriented to seek political consensus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese days, giving away things is fashionable in Italy,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels like public transport is being given for free since it\u2019s terrible anyway, and that\u2019s a wrong message to convey. In small towns, it has been handed out as a service that has the capacity, but that won\u2019t attract many more users nor reduce emissions. I\u2019m more concerned about bigger cities like Bari and Genoa. There, public transport should be more efficient, and that money could be used for improving the offer instead,\u201d he emphasizes. <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Student Mobility wants to make (international) public transport accessible to young people<\/div>
Ivo Kneepkens himself traveled all over the world as a student. “My experiences abroad have had a very big impact on my personal development and I hope young people and students can continue to experience this.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Reducing fares cost <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Germany\u2019s Klimaticket is another example of a drastic reduction in fares costs. The initiative allowed buying a 9\u20ac-worth monthly ticket<\/a> to use on local and regional transport across the country last summer. At the beginning of April, the government announced its \u20ac49 successor. Previously,  Austria had already introduced a Klimaticket allowing citizens to ride public transport anywhere for \u20ac3 a day. Similarly, Spain reduced public transportation ticket costs to mitigate the effects of inflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the German Federal Statistic Office, the number of train trips longer than 30 kilometers increased by 42 percent<\/a> in July \u2013 compared to 2019 figures. Train journeys grew by an average of 80 percent in rural areas. At the same time, the statistics bureau said that road transport remained the main method of travel, with similar traffic volumes. It was estimated that the \u20ac9 ticket initiative\u2019s cost was about \u20ac2.5 billion in state subsidies.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
On the road with the \u20ac9 ticket – Part 1: a visit to the largest solar park in Germany<\/div>
In Germany this summer, regional public transport can be ridden for 9 euros a month. Innovation Origins is taking this opportunity to visit a number of future projects.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

No silver bullet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A less measurable, yet tangible, effect that originated from the German initiative is that it sparked the discussion around cheap \u2013 if not free \u2013 public transport. As more cities embrace the policy, some patterns can be identified. \u201cOverall, the main effect I noticed from analyzing different case studies is that this policy opens public transport to the underprivileged. On the other hand, it\u2019s quite clear that it doesn’t attract car drivers,\u201d K\u0119b\u0142owski adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beria looks at the establishment of the policy from another perspective.\u201cThe idea of free public transport is not as intuitive as it seems. In my opinion, making it free of charge for residents is a way to increase revenues. This is because everyone would pay for it through taxes instead of hoping somebody would pay a subscription. A solution could be to make everyone pay less, casual users too,\u201d he underlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However important it can be, FFPT is no silver bullet to disincentivize car usage. Other actions, namely traffic calming in city centers \u2013 setting lower speed limits, narrowing streets, and so on \u2013 improved cycling infrastructure, are as crucial. Is FFPT realistic, then? In smaller towns, implementing this policy is easier, but it will probably come with new taxation schemes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the end of this year, the citizens of the French city of Montpellier \u2013 home to 300.000 people \u2013 will travel for free on its bus and tram lines. Montpellier is the largest city in the country to promote this policy, which has already existed in smaller French towns \u2013 such as Dunkirk, Compi\u00e8gne, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":494083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26049],"tags":[38584,77764,70238,77767,5235],"location":[70256,66582],"article_type":[60595],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-444735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobility","tag-cities","tag-free-public-transport-5","tag-openbaar-vervoer-2","tag-public-transport-7","tag-steden","location-eu","location-europe","article_type-analysis"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Worldwide, more and more cities are adopting free-fare public transport policies. How feasible can these be? ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/using_the_qr-ticket_in_tallinn_ridango_2019_3_1.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Mobility<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Mobility<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["cities<\/a>","free public transport<\/a>","openbaar vervoer<\/a>","public transport<\/a>","steden<\/a>"],"unlinked":["cities<\/span>","free public transport<\/span>","openbaar vervoer<\/span>","public transport<\/span>","steden<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2023","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 8, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=444735"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=444735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}