By Wojciech
Kębłowski, International Viewpoint, 10 September 2019.
We don’t put coins in street lamps or pay by the minute in
public parks. Here’s why we can make subway and bus fares a thing of the past.
If we are to believe transport experts and practitioners,
abolishing fares for all passengers is the last thing public transport
operators should be doing. For Alan Flausch, an ex-CEO of the Brussels public
transport authority and current Secretary General of International Association
of Public Transport, “in terms of mobility, free public transport is absurd.”
According to Vincent Kauffmann, a professor at University of
Lausanne and one of key figures in sustainable mobility, “free public transport
does not make any sense.” Getting rid of tickets in mass transit is judged
“irrational,” “uneconomical” and “unsustainable.”
However, if we turn to commentators from outside the field
of transport, the perspective on fare abolition changes radically. Social
scientists, activists, journalists and public officials—often speaking from
cities where fare abolition has actually been put to the test—fervently defend
the measure.
For Judith Dellheim, a researcher at Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung
in Berlin, providing free access to public transport is the “first step towards
socio-ecological transformation.” For Michiel Van Hulten, one of the earliest
proponents of free public transport in Europe, “it is about returning to the
commons.” Finally, according to Naomi Klein, this is precisely what cities
around the world should be doing —“to really respond to the urgency of climate
change, public transport would have to become free.”
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