Tallinn train fares going up less than expected

On March 1, the price of single Elron train tickets within Tallinn will be going up from €1.80 to €2 — a month later and 20 cents cheaper than initially planned. This fare hike will not affect ticket prices throughout the rest of Estonia.
Since public transport is free for registered Tallinn residents, Elron's fare hike in the capital, i.e. Zone 1, will affect nonresidents — and the city budget, from which the City of Tallinn must compensate Elron for residents' free rides.
A couple of weeks ago, Minister of Regional Affairs Piret Hartman (SDE) announced that train fares within Tallinn would be increasing by 40 cents, from €1.80 to €2.20, as of February.
Following sharp opposition from Tallinn Deputy Mayor Kristjan Järvan (Isamaa), however, Harman backed down from the original plan.
"The increase in Elron's ticket price in Zone 1 will take effect on March 1," the minister said. "We reached a deal with Tallinn that the ticket price will be €2."
As a result, the unexpected additional cost to Tallinn's city budget will be slashed in half, from €600,000 to €300,000.
"Which on one hand is no small amount of money," acknowledged Tallinn Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE). "But on the other, Tallinn's annual public transport costs total €120 million, so in that context, it's certainly affordable for the city."
Ossinovski noted that currently, no funds have yet been allocated in the city budget for the fare hike.
"But we definitely want Tallinn residents to continue taking the train and county buses for free, which means that additional funds will have to be earmarked in a supplementary budget," he added.

According to Järvan, funding sources must be identified in cooperation with coalition partners, as this fare hike was an unexpected one for the city, and was only announced after this year's city budget had already been approved.
"Of course the Tallinn city government wants free public transport to continue for city residents on trains as well," the deputy mayor confirmed. "Alternative funding sources beyond the transport sector must be considered as well."
With this train fare increase, the state aims to align bus and train fare prices in preparation for the transition to a unified fare system for Tallinn and Harju County starting this summer.
"Once the unified fare system takes effect, prices will also change," Hartman said. "Currently, bus fares are cheaper, and train fares are more expensive. Train fares will likely come down a bit, while bus fares will go up. Ultimately, we'll see the impact on the state budget at the end of the year, as it's very difficult to predict how people's behavior will change."
Even so, Tallinn's train fares will be increasing from March already, rather than on the launch of the unified fare system.
"The City of Tallinn doesn't actually have decision-making authority over how Elron and the state set their fares," Ossinovski acknowledged.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Aili Vahtla