Tallinn to Poll Citizens on Free Public Transport (6)

Published: 27.01.2012 11:00

Photo: Postimees/Scanpix

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Tallinn City Council has decided that the city will hold a referendum on free public transport from March 19 to 25.

The residents of the city will be asked one question: "Do you support the introduction of free public transport on the lines operating on a common ticket system in Tallinn starting from 2013?” Deputy Mayor Taavi Aas confirmed that the city government will act based on the results of the referendum.

The city government's plan to introduce free public transport in Tallinn has provoked a lively discussion, which continued during the council meeting on Thursday.

Aas explained that partial or full ticket concessions already apply to nearly 70 percent of the rides taken on public transport and that offering free service may initially only increase the number of customers by a tenth. In addition, Aas cited the increased cost of housing, food, and other necessities as further social impetus for offering free public transport and stressed the environmental benefits of the proposed plan.

Mayor Edgar Savisaar has maintained that free public transport would reduce the number of car rides, traffic congestions, and accidents and ease the strain on the streets, and most importantly, it would increase the mobility of the families who find it difficult to make ends meet.

Former mayor Hardo Aasmäe called the proposal rational and innovative. "Free public transport is a thing of the future,“ claimed Aasmäe. "We should look at it from a broader perspective than just Tallinn. This is an excellent chance for Estonia to attract attention by being innovative. The state already pays approximately half of the ticket fare on regional public transport lines. Public transport should be free in all the Estonian towns and counties and it should be financed by a national transportation tax.“

Ticket fare currently makes up less than 40 percent of the money spent on maintaining the public transport system, which means that Tallinn would have to find approximately 20 million euros of additional financing to start offering free public transport. The city is hoping to raise the money by merging its various transport companies and dipping into the funds that had previously been earmarked for the construction of the city's sewerage and plumbing systems.

 

Sigrid Maasen

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Comments (6)

  • Edvini

    29.01.2012 14:13

    Great news! Fully support Tallinn Municipality in this move! You will see a big decrease in cars in the city if this is approved. Who would take a car if you can go by bus or tram?

  • Mart Mang

    29.01.2012 17:42

    Just remember that in a democracy there is no such thing as a free lunch...

  • local

    31.01.2012 15:17

    By the way this proposal has come totally out from the blue this January. Tallinn just has drafted a new public transport plan in August and there is no proposal of considering free fares for residents. Income from ticket sales is 20 million a year and now that the mayor has shown the sources for finding this money for "free public transport" -- this money is urgently needed for DEVELOPMENT of public transport. For regular city-drivers the ticket price is not an argument for choosing the car and those drivers who complain about ticket prices either do not know the monthly ticket prices (18 eur) or have "a free" car from their company.

  • J.H. Crawford, carfree.com

    31.01.2012 16:33

    I suppose that this proposal will actually cost nearly nothing. Here's why: Most fares are already discounted or free so the revenue loss is not so great. The fare recovery ratio is only 40%. The costs of collecting a fare are large for both the transit operator and the passenger. Nearly all bus operations are delayed by fare collection (BRT is an exception). This directly increases operating costs. The cost of printing, collecting, and checking tickets is quite significant, and often quite expensive machines must be purchased and maintained. Dealing with all of the coins collected also costs some money. For the passenger, time is wasted (a lot of it). The need to always have exact change or a ticket or transit pass in hand is a substantial irritation and time consumer. The fear of "doing something wrong" and getting caught without a valid ticket, even when a good-faith effort was made, is a subtle deterrent to the use of public transport. Most people would be acutely embarrassed if caught traveling on an invalid ticket. Transfers are bad enough without adding the complication of additional fare payment and transfer tokens or scrip. So, even though the direct savings to the passengers may not be all that great, I think the increase in ridership may be greater than expected (although probably not huge). I see this as a win-win approach and have long advocated free urban public transport.

  • local

    31.01.2012 17:42

    Joel - printing and selling of tickets costs currently 2 MEUR and hardly anyone buys tickets on buses and trams. Besides the scheme is proposed so that only local residents, not commuters nor tourists, would receive this benefit. So the ticket system will remain (and with a proposed common ticketing system with regional buses will be also compulsory to use for these "free rides" as they will start to register boardings. I predict that it will increase PT use by 10% -- and the increase will come from people walking or those who are currently using PT anyway, so it will take walkers away from the centre -- and when this is not backed up with investments in PT and disincentives for car use it will just remain a populistic debate from the leading party.

  • Spawnie

    05.02.2012 11:13

    Tallinn residents can already buy e-tickets online. Occasional riders of public transport(Estonians and/or tourists) are the ones who buy printed tickets from intermediary vendors. If free transportation will only be provided for the residents, then costs will not change. One thing will probably change though: buses will be more crowded and less appealing; because the increase in riders will not come from drivers giving up their cars, but mainly from drunks and homeless people. Whoever can afford a car at the moment, will not be enticed by free public transportation for sure. Thus, this measure is a disservice to regular public transportation users.