Luxembourg to become first country to introduce free public transport
By JoeWeimerskirch
Luxembourg is set to become the first country in the world to make public transport free.
The re-elected coalition government of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel promised last December to abolish all fares on public transport.
However, it wasn’t until this week (21 January) that the government confirmed that fares will be scrapped on the 1st March 2020.
Up until now passengers had to pay fares of 2€ for two hours on public transport, but from March they will be able to travel all 999 square miles of the country for free on public transport.
Fares will be abolished for users of the bus, train and tram system.
The project “free public transport” is set to cost the government about 41 million euros per year and people employed in the sector are to be reallocated in order to keep their job.
The government plans to spend further 2.2 billion euros in public infrastructure until 2023.
However, only second-class tickets will be free, as passengers will still have to pay for first-class journeys.
About 400,000 commuters travel to the country’s capital city every day and studies suggested that drivers spent an average of 33 hours in traffic in 2016.
The government hopes that abolishing the fares will encourage commuters to go without car as Luxembourg tries to tackle its serious traffic problem.
The re-elected government also plans to legalise cannabis and to introduce two new public holidays.