Free public transport

Free public transport, also often called free public transit or zero-fare public transport, is a single or network of transport services funded in full by means other than collecting a full fare from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local government through taxation or by commercial sponsorship by businesses. The concept of "free-ness" is one that may take other forms, such as no fare access via a card which may or may not be paid in its entirety by the user. See Free travel pass for more on this.

Types

City-wide systems

Several mid-size European cities and many smaller towns around the world have converted their entire bus networks to zero-fare. The city of Hasselt in Belgium is a notable example: fares were abolished in 1997 and ridership was as much as "13 times higher" by 2006.

See list below.

Local services

Local zero-fare shuttles or inner-city loops are far more common than city-wide systems. They often use buses or trams. These may be set up by a city government to ease bottlenecks or fill short gaps in the transport network.

See List of free public transport routes for a list of zero-fare routes within wider (fare-paying) networks

Zero-fare transport is often operated as part of the services offered within a public facility, such as a hospital or university campus shuttle or an airport inter-terminal shuttle.

Some zero-fare services may be built to avoid the need for large transport construction. Some port cities where shipping would require very high bridges might provide zero-fare ferries instead. These are free at the point of use, just as the use of a bridge might have been. Machinery installed within a building or shopping centre can be seen as 'zero-fare transport': elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks are often provided by property owners and funded through the sales of goods and services. Even community bicycle programs, providing free bicycles for short-term public use could be thought of as zero-fare transport.

A common example of zero-fare transport is student transport, where students travelling to or from school do not need to pay in many cases. One notable example would be The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which provides much of the funding needed to operate the Stevens Point Transit system. As a result, all students enrolled at the university can use any of the 4 city-wide campus routes as well as the other 4 bus routes throughout the city free of charge. The university also funds two late night bus routes to serve the downtown free of charge with a goal of cutting down drunk driving.

In some regions transport is free because the revenues are lower that expenses from fare collection is already partially paid by government or company or service (for example BMO railway road in Moscow, most part of is used to as service transport and officially pick up passengers).

Benefits

Operational benefits

Transport operators can benefit from faster boarding and shorter dwell times, allowing faster timetabling of services. Although some of these benefits can be achieved in other ways, such as off-vehicle ticket sales and modern types of electronic fare collection, zero-fare transport avoids equipment and personnel costs.

Passenger aggression may be reduced. In 2008 bus drivers of Société des Transports Automobiles (STA) in Essonne held strikes demanding zero-fare transport for this reason. They claim that 90% of the aggression is related to refusal to pay the fare.

Commercial benefits

Some zero-fare transport services are funded by private businesses (such as the merchants in a shopping mall) in the hope that doing so will increase sales or other revenue from increased foot traffic or ease of travel. Employers often operate free shuttles as a benefit to their employees, or as part of a congestion mitigation agreement with a local government.

Community benefits

Zero-fare transport can make the system more accessible and fair for low-income residents.^{[citation needed]} Other benefits are the same as those attributed to public transport generally:

• Road traffic can benefit from decreased congestion and faster average road speeds, fewer traffic accidents, easier parking, savings from reduced wear and tear on roads
• Environmental and public health benefits including decreased air pollution and noise pollution from road traffic

Global benefits

Global benefits of zero-fare transport are also the same as those attributed to public transport generally. If use of personal cars is discouraged, zero-fare public transport could mitigate the problems of global warming and oil depletion.

Disadvantages

Several large North American municipalities have attempted zero-fare systems, but many of these implementations have been unsuccessful. A 2002 Department of Transport report suggests that, while transit ridership does tend to increase, there are also some serious disadvantages to converting to fare-free operation:

• A sharp increase in vandalism and hooliganism
• Transit vehicles turning into de-facto homeless shelters
• In large transit systems, significant revenue shortfalls
• A significant increase in driver complaints and staff turnover, even though farebox-related arguments are all but eliminated
• Slower service overall (not collecting fares has the effect of speeding boarding, but increased crowding tends to swamp out this effect)
• Declines in schedule adherence
• Increased security and vehicle-maintenance costs

This report also suggests that, while ridership does increase overall, the ultimate goal of reducing emissions by enticing drivers to take transit instead is rarely met: in fact, because fare-free systems tend to attract large numbers of hooligans, vagrants and other "problem riders", zero-fare systems often have the effect of frightening potential riders back into their cars--the exact opposite of the desired effect.

List of towns and cities with area-wide zero-fare transport

For local and/or limited services, see List of free public transport routes

Town/City	Population	Operator	notes
Aubagne, France	42,900 (100,000 in the area concerned)		since may 15 2009
Bar-le-Duc, France	15,700		since 1st September 2008
Boulogne-Billancourt, France	110,000		since 1992
Cache Valley, Utah			since 2000
Castres, France	62,500		since October 2008
Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina	70,000+	Chapel Hill Transit	operated by the Town of Chapel Hill to serve Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and UNC-Chapel Hill; supported by taxpayers and University fee-payers. The system has been fare-free since 2002.
Châteauroux, France	47,127		since 2001
Cheremushki, Russia	9,000	trams are serviced by Dam's staff	zero fare is official to anybody (de jure service line because the taxes would be higher than revenues)
Clemson, South Carolina	11,939	Clemson Area Transit	partnership between Clemson University and surrounding communities
Colomiers, France	28,538		In 1971 it became the first area of France to offer zero-fare public transport which is still in operation at present
Commerce, California	41,000		all transportation services are free of charge
Compiègne, France	12,500		since 1990s
Coral Gables, Florida	42,871
Emeryville, California	9,727	Emery Go Round
Figeac, France	9,900		since its inception in September 2003.
Gibraltar, Gibraltar	29,500	state	since May 2011
Hasselt, Belgium	72,000	H-lijn	since July 1, 1997; 1300% ridership increase
Hořovice, Czech Republic	6,800	Probo Trans Beroun s. r. o.	since March 2008, city transport has only one bus line (No. 210009 alias C09 or C9)
Island County, Washington	81,054	Island Transit	since 1987
Issoudun, France	13,500		since its inception in 1989 - has Free in the name of the service (Transport Issoudun Gratuit)
Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho	3,003	Mountain Rides
Kiruna, Sweden	18,090		since 2011
Libourne, France	23,000		since 1st january 2009 for under 18s and 28th august 2010 for everyone
Logan, Utah	49,534		since 1992
Lübben, Germany	14,500		influenced by Hasselt
Mammoth Lakes, California	8,234	Eastern Sierra Transit Authority
Manises, Spain	30,478
Manosque, France	22,200		since 1st january 2010
Mariehamn, Åland	11,000		in addition to free bus services, persons and bicycles travel free of charge with the archipelago ferries (there is a fee for motorcycles, cars, caravans and other vehicles).
Nova Gorica, Slovenia	31,000		since April 2006.
Övertorneå, Sweden	2,000		even 70 km free rides on local buses in this rural community
Stanford, California	13,809	Stanford Marguerite Shuttle
Templin, Germany	16,500
Türi, Estonia	6,174
Vail, Colorado	4,589		over 20 hours of service every day during winter
Vero Beach, Florida	140,000	GoLine	free 14-route public transit system serves 700,000 annual riders
Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine, France	15,313		since spring 2001, first French urban agglomeration to do so.

Perception and analysis

Free public transport creates the perception of a no-cost service, just as car drivers commonly perceive no cost to deciding to take their car somewhere. The catch of the car-based system is that the car trip is not in fact free, far from it, but it is generally perceived as such.

Likewise, this perception of freeness is important for public transport, which is far more environmentally and resource efficient than own-car travel – which means in this case that full access to the system need not be altogether “free” for its users but that from a financial perspective is becomes (a) front-loaded and (b) affordable. The invariable fact of life of delivering any public service is that the money to do so must come from somewhere – and of “free” public transport that once the user has entered into some kind of “contract” with her or his city – for example a monthly or annual transit pass that opens up the public system to unlimited use for those who pay for it. Now, how they pay and how much will be part of the overall political/economic package (“contract”) of their community. In cities that offer such passes – as is the case to take but one example in most cities in France that since the mid-seventies have had their own Carte Orange – the remainder of the funds needed to pay for these services comes from other sources (mainly in this case from employers, local government).

Left-wing advocacy groups, such as the Swedish network Planka.nu, see zero-fare public transport as an effort in the redistribution of wealth. It is also argued that transportation to and from work is a necessary part of the work day, and is essential to the employer in the managing of work hours. It is thus argued that financing of public transportation should fall to employers rather than private citizens.

See also

• Universal transit pass
• Planka.nu Swedish membership network which pays the penalty fare if you get caught without paying ticket

External links

• freepublictransports.com network of groups promoting free public transport
• freepublictransit.org advocacy website
• en.wordpress.com/tag/free-public-transport/ World Streets summer 2010 series on Free Public Transport