Euronews reports that as of July 1st, Estonia will implement free transport for its residents across most of the Baltic country. The free fare zone will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This is a first as no country has ever before looked to abolish fares all day, every day, across such a large area.
Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, Kadri Simson, said there will be a transition process to implement the free journeys across the country, although some areas have opted out of the scheme.
Estonia’s public transit already gets extremely generous subsidies. The state-owned railway operator Elron, for example, will get a €31 million boost from taxpayers next year. The rural bus routes due to go free, meanwhile, are already subsidised to up to 80 percent of cost as it is. Making them entirely fare-less should only cost around €12.9 million ($15.2 million) more—not a vast amount for even a small country such as Estonia.
Sources: Euronews, Popucity,CitiLab
