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In Montpellier, France, public transportation became free for residents on Thursday evening. Anyone coming into the city from outside still has to pay the 1.60 euro ticket. The plan was first announced in 2020 by socialist mayor Michaël Delafosse and is primarily intended to help reduce pollution from private car traffic.
Montpellier is located in the south of France and is best known for its university. With around 300,000 inhabitants, it is the seventh largest city in France and the metropolitan region to which it belongs includes 31 municipalities with a total of over 500,000 inhabitants. Montpellier is one of the first initiatives of this kind in Europe: the Estonian capital Tallinn has been doing this since 2013, Luxembourg since 2020 – which, with 645,000 inhabitants, is comparable to a medium-sized city.
Last year, Spain made season tickets for local and medium-distance public transport free for a few months, while in Germany from 2022, the use of city and regional transport will be possible at a very affordable fixed price of 49 euros per month (initially this was the case). Case). 9).
Montpellier has four tram lines and additional bus lines operated by the public company TAM, but many of its residents get around on foot, by bike or by car, as do the majority of people who live in even more distant areas . The topic of mobility is also very important because the city has grown significantly, especially over the last forty years, and the population continues to increase.
– Also read: Montpellier's plan to make public transport free
A first phase of the plan, which lasted a year, envisaged that all residents of the metropolis could freely use public transport on weekends; the second, which began on September 1, 2021, extended the ability to always travel free to people under 18 and over 65. To travel for free on Montpellier's transport, you need a pass, which you can obtain by uploading a photo of a document and a certificate of residence on a special platform. According to the French news agency AFP, the number of season tickets for public transport in the city has increased from 86,000 to 260,000 in recent days.
Free transport initiatives are almost always aimed at at least partially offsetting recent increases in the cost of living, including fuel costs, but also at trying to persuade people to give up their cars in order to limit emissions of pollutants . There are 39 other towns or cities in France with similar plans, including Dunkerque (Dunkirk), Calais and Aubagne near Marseille. There are no cities or towns in Italy where public transport is free for all residents, although similar proposals are doing the rounds: in early 2023, Bari became the first Italian city to offer a near-free season ticket.
– Also read: The Indian state where public transport is free for women