Mayor of Tallinn assures European Commission forum that free public transport "strengthens social ties, stimulate slocal economy and spares the environment."

Savisaar: EU’s urban policy should green-light public transport

 

The Mayor of Tallinn gets around the city easily on free public transport  which has been transforming urban mobility for all residents since January last year.

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www.tallinn.ee report 19.02.2014

Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar spoke at the European Commission forum ‘Cities of Tomorrow: Investing in Europe’, stressing the importance of the lowest possible public transport fare and the significance of a common urban policy for European Union.

“According to a special research by Eurobarometer, published in mid-December, Europeans consider the most important measure of improving mobility in cities lowering the public transport fare. Especially noteworthy is that lowering the fare is considered the most important measure by people in some of EU’s richest countries like Sweden (79%), Denmark (75%), Germany and Netherlands (both 73%),” Savisaar noted.

“Unfortunately, Estonia is not among five richest European countries but our capital Tallinn has a year-old experience of keeping public transport fare at its lowest, i.e. zero. And I assure you that free public transport does strengthen society’s social ties while stimulating local economy and sparing environment. This is, indeed, smart policy. Green-lighting public transport is certainly one of the goals that the urban policy of European Union should support more effectively than the EU policy thus far,” Savisaar stressed in his speech.