The Effects of the Selective Enlargement of Fare-Free Public Transport

Krzysztof Grzelec,Aleksander Jagiełło

doi:10.3390/su12166390

Abstract

In recent years fare-free public transport (FFPT) found itself at the centre of attention of various groups, such as economists, transport engineers and local authorities, as well as those responsible for the organisation of urban transport. The FFPT is hoped to be the answer to contemporary transport-related problems within cities, problems which largely result from insensible proportions between trips carried out via personal mode of transportation and those completed by the means of public transport. This article reviews the motives and effects connected with the introduction to date of fare-free transport zones across the globe. It also presents, using data obtained in market research, the actual impact of a selective extension of the entitlement to free fares on the demand for urban transport services. The effects observed in other urban transport systems were then compared against those observed in relation to one, examined system. Analyses of observed FFPT implementation effects were then used to establish good and bad practices in the introduction of FFPT. The article also contains forecasts on the effect of the extension of entitlement to free fares and an increase in the public transport offer may have on the volume of demand for such services. The analyses have shown that an increase in the public transport offer (understood as an increase in the volume of vehicle-kilometres) would increase the demand for urban transport services more than the selective implementation of FFPT (assuming that the costs incurred by the local authorities remain unchanged).

Highlights

Urban transport systems are still unsustainable in most cities and metropolis [1,2]
The main aim of sustainable mobility is to create a permanent change in the transport behaviours of residents by increasing the share of trips completed via sustainable means of transport, such as public transport, bicycle and on foot [7]
This article reviews and analyses the results of the decision made by the authorities of the communes of Gdansk Bay Metropolis in 2018 regarding the extension of fare-free public transport (FFPT) entitlement to include all students using the findings of research into demand within the communes surrounding the core of the metropolis and in Sopot—the city which constitutes the core of the GBM

Summary

Introduction

Urban transport systems are still unsustainable in most cities and metropolis [1,2]. An increase in the attractiveness of the public transport offer is essential if the goals of sustainable mobility are to be attained [3,4,5,6]. Sustainable mobility consists of electromobility (of all modes), collective transport 2.0 (based on various forms of shared mobility) and low-mobility societies (based on car-free cities) [8]. Fare-free public transport (FFTP) fits the idea of collective transport 2.0 This idea applies to traditional public transport (such as buses, trains and trams owned by national or local governments), and to the concept of mobility as a service and shared mobility. This means that FFTP is only one of the possible solutions that can be taken on the path to sustainable mobility

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