Una città europea ha reso gratuiti i trasporti pubblici un anno fa. Montpellier ha introdotto il trasporto pubblico gratuito per combattere la crisi climatica e per alleviare il costo della vita dei suoi residenti. L’utilizzo dei trasporti pubblici a Montpellier è aumentato di un terzo, i residenti hanno effettuato 110 milioni di viaggi in 1 anno.
https://www.euronews.com/2024/12/23/this-european-city-made-public-transport-free-a-year-ago-heres-what-happened-next
di Lion8330
11 commenti
This is actually a measure that makes sense. Meanwhile in Berlin our government has decided to bet everything on the usage of bikes. One of the largest, coldest and darkest cities in Europe.
Are you too old to drive your bike? Or are you injured ? Or do you have kids ? Well.. go f**** yourself :). Do you have an electric car ? Well, go f*** yourself :).
While it’s a feelsgood story, it isn’t “free”.
Either taxes get raised, or money gets diverted from something else.
Im here now actually. I tried to pay as a turist, and is also quite confusing.
This is like Belgrade, also made it free, because the payment system was now good enough.
I wonder how much this saved in co benefits from cutting car usage. Like how many spare parts didn’t need buying, how much oil refills got cut etc from reduction in miles in cars?
This approach has been tried in many cities across Europe, but it often ends up being detrimental to public health. Where I live in Norway, a monthly pass for trains, buses, trams, ferries, and more costs around €60 and covers travel within a couple of hours’ distance.
Research shows that making public transport free primarily attracts people who already walk or cycle, rather than those who drive. People who don’t use public transport when it costs only €60 per month are unlikely to start using it just because it’s free. In the end, it’s a waste of public funds.
Think of all the money they saved on fare enforcement
Nothing is free. You pay for that in some way or another.
I live here and the free trams make life so much easier. Montpellier does a great job with their public transport.
Blows my mind seeing people whinge in the comments.
First it’s not free. It’s payed by the taxpayers and especially by those who don’t use public transport.
Secondly, I doubt it was done to combat climate crisis. I have been to France too many times not to notice that a certain category of people doesn’t like to pay their tickets. I think they simply gave up on enforcing ticket control
such a bad idea. it is always better to have fares as it generates money for improvement of services and reduces waste, like people swapping cycling for buses/trams.
Thats cool, even one trip for me to citycenter and back costs 8€. I rather drive to supermarket like many others.