As things stand, a reported €20 million is needed to maintain public transportation operations at their usual level, through to year-end.

Fare hikes are also expected in the near future.

Minister Hartman told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "Naturally, if we are talking about the overall budget for public transportation, we cannot ignore or fail to take into consideration the degree of participation from individuals."

"This varies depending on the mode of transport. For example, with bus transport, it is less than 10 percent. When we come to talk about rail transport, the goal is to reach 50 percent [use]. For ferries, it is 40 percent," Hartman said.

Hartman added that has not yet been fully decided whether public transportation will face austerity measures. Much depends on customer uptake and ticket prices.

Ticket prices will not change this year, the minister added, but they need to be reviewed in the light of rising costs and inflation.

The government has assigned budget cut targets to the ministries which public transport operational subsidies will not be spared from, even as EU funds are expected to remain untouched.

Andrus Nilisk, head of the North Estonian Public Transport Center (Põhja-Eesti ühistranspordi keskus), told "Aktuaalne kaamera" that a hike in bus ticket prices would not achieve the desired results as under free public transport schemes, two-thirds of passengers do not currently have to buy a ticket in any case.

This would instead have the effect of driving away paying travelers, he said.

Passenger rail operator Elron hiked ticket prices at the beginning of the year and also cut pre-sale discounts in summer.

Elron CEO Lauri Betlem said a unified ticketing system would also help increase the number of passengers in public transport; the main obstacle to this is a disparity of discounts, he added.

For instance, while children and the elderly can ride county buses for free, they get discounts on trains.

"However, there has been no political will or readiness to eliminate free rides for these groups on county bus routes," Betlem added.

Elron cut free train transport to Ukrainian refugees last month.

A free public transport scheme, covering buses, trams and trolleybuses, has been in place in Tallinn for over a decade and is available to all residents, including when traveling on Elron trains. For instance a Tallinn resident can get a discount on a ticket to and from a destination outside the city if they present their green card.

Most counties followed suit on bus routes within their county and to residents, starting 2018, but this has seen an uncertain future.

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