As countries look to increase public transport use, experts explain why making buses, trams and trains free may not be a “magic bullet” to solve the problem.
Luxembourg recently celebrated three years of free public transport. According to locals, it has been a huge success.
As countries look to encourage citizens to ditch their cars to cut carbon emissions, can Luxembourg’s success be replicated across Europe?
“The quality of public transport needs a complete change,” says François Bausch, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility, Public Works and Defence of Luxembourg.
“There is no magic wand. No single mode of transport can solve all our problems. Instead, we must rely on multiple modes of transport, and combine them.”
How did Luxembourg transform its transport network?
Bush explains that the country decided to make public transit free for two reasons: to give everyone equitable access and to encourage discussion and awareness about a decade of change in its mobility system.
In 2013, when Bush first took office, rush-hour traffic jams were a daily occurrence in downtown Luxembourg. Now, thanks to increased use of the tram system and a reorganization of the way its streets work, those jams have disappeared.
The tram has exclusive right of way and priority at crossings, and therefore never gets stuck in traffic jams. This, combined with the fact that it is free, encourages more people to use it. Bosch sees this as a measure of the success of the transport transformation in Luxembourg.
Cars haven’t disappeared entirely, and the country still has the highest car ownership per household in Europe. Around 230,000 people cross the border into Luxembourg every day for work, and 75 percent of these journeys are made by car.
“You shouldn’t argue against something, you should argue for something,” Bush says.
“I do not make policies against cars, but for another transportation system in which cars have a place.”
Will making public transport free encourage more people to use it?
Making public transport free is not necessarily the answer. It works in a rich country like Luxembourg, but in other countries, the goal should be to make public transport cheap, easy to use and accessible to all.
A new report by Greenpeace on public transport across Europe says that lowering prices is one of the “easiest and quickest ways” to encourage people to use it. And the cost has to be lower than the cost of running a car for this to work.
Public transport in Luxembourg is not really free for most people.
“Obviously this is paid for through general taxes, and since people who pay more taxes don’t actually have free access to transportation, they pay indirectly through taxes,” says Bush.
“But those who, for example, earn nothing or earn very little, who pay no taxes or pay very little direct taxes, are in fact getting it for free.”
When it comes to lowering prices, the Greenpeace report highlights other potential sources of funding such as shifting money from fossil fuel subsidies, taxes on airline tickets, or removing VAT from tickets.
Are there other ways to encourage more use of public transport?
Another major factor that makes people stop using their cars is how easy it is to navigate transportation networks.
“You can make public transport free, but it can quickly go off the rails because there is no infrastructure to go with it,” says Harald Ruijers, director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility, the body responsible for transport in the EU.
advertisement“There are no tickets associated with it, no mix-and-match between the different modes and the connection between them and you, you’re out.”
Luxembourg’s transformation has not been limited to free transport, says Bausch. Over the past few years, the country has invested around €500 per citizen per year in modernising and expanding the rail network, for example.
“We invest in the network and in the quality of the rail network four, five or six times more than all the other European countries. And obviously we have also reformed the entire bus system, the national buses that we have.”
“If you want people to change their habits, you have to make sure the alternative actually works,” he adds.
Why do we need to switch to public transport instead of cars?
Whether it’s free or not, the main goal is to get more people using public transport. But why, if the future is electric cars?
advertisement“Public transportation is many times more efficient than individual transportation,” Rutgers explains.
“Individual cars, for example, consume almost seven times as much electricity as electric cars in the future, for example, a train, tram or metro.”
He says this means that even in a future when we are completely decarbonised, we will have to rely on public transport for capacity and energy efficiency.
“Finding the balance between what we need to have a habitable planet and what we also need to ensure that it is socially bearable for everyone,” Rutgers concludes.
Watch the video above to learn more about how Europe is transforming its public transport.
advertisement