Luxembourg will become the first country in the world to have all public transport ticket-free in order to give priority to the environment. The decision was taken by the re-elected coalition government, headed by Xavier Bettel. He took an oath as prime minister for second term on Wednesday. The new government also considers the introduction of two new public holidays and the cannabis legalisation. The last policy has triggered many debates in the country.
Currently, tariffs are fixed to a fee of €2 for everything that can be used within two hours of travel, covering most journeys in the country with total area of 2.585 km ².
Luxembourg, the capital of land-locked country, is home to about 107 000 people, but 400 000 travellers cross the borders of Belgium, France and Germany every day to work, causing some of the worst congestions in Europe. Part of the cost of the initiative will be borne by removing tax breaks for daily travellers. A question that needs to be addressed in Luxembourg is the likelihood of homeless people in trains during the winter in order stay warm while travelling free.
A study conducted in 2016 found that Luxembourg has the worst traffic congestion in the world, and the drivers there spend an average of 33 hours in the year in traffic jams. The government still needs to finalise the plan, including to need to take a decision whether people must pay for premium and secondary rooms in trains.
Luxembourg has already shown that there is a prospective attitude towards transport – in the summer, the government introduced free transport for young people under the age of 20. Students in secondary schools receive free transport services between their school premises and homes.
The Luxembourg transport system costs nearly €1 billion per year for maintenance. But partly as a result of concession offers, tariffs amount to only EUR 30 million per year.
Some urban centres worldwide offer free transport in an attempt to reduce congestion and in some US States the bus system is free. But no other nation has eliminated tariffs from its entire transport network.
