Country With Notorious Traffic Congestion Becomes First in the World to Offer Free Public Transportation for All

Luxembourg will soon become the first country in the world to offer free public transportation to everyone.

The European nation suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in the world—and scores the highest cars-per-capita rate in the European Union. Though its population is small, some 560,000 residents, the number of international commuters from France and Belgium has nearly doubled what it was two decades ago. According to the New York Times, the 180,000 commuters are attracted to Luxembourg by jobs that offer substantially higher annual salaries than those in neighboring nations.

Previously, trams, buses, and trains have offered free fare to children, students, and senior citizens, but starting in 2020, public transit will be free for all.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who was just sworn in for his second term earlier this week, hopes that the initiative will benefit the environment by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously freeing drivers from such infuriating traffic jams.


https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/country-with-notorious-traffic-congestion-becomes-first-in-the-world-to-offer-free-public-transportation-for-all/

If we are going to remain in any semblance of the life we have now, with climate change, this has to be one of the ways forward. Personal transport has to become a thing of the past, why have 30 or 50 cars polluting the area when you can have a tram or a bus carrying the same number of people at half or less of the pollution.

Buses and Trains are not door to door , and they are expensive !

Ideally they'll be free, though ok not door to door I agree, but shouldn't be too far away from anywhere. Our bus service as a child and young adult wasn't great, it started early and the last bus was 10:30 from the nearest town, you had to leave before the end of a film but it's heaps better then what we have now, at least the bus always arrived within about 10 mins either side of the timetable time now you aren't really sure a bus will arrive at all, they stop at 5:30 from town, then there's a privately run company with buses at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 so if you come from anywhere except the next village and miss the connection you have a 2 hour wait with no where to go, except the bus stop.

What a wonderful idea.