4 ms·

Hopefully this gets more people to switch from their cars! This is “the carrot”. When France tried “the stick” with a fuel duty hike, it triggered mass protests

• makapuf 5y ago
  Don't forget that in France, gas is taxed maybe 80% (to pay for roads, the more you drive the more you use roads, as a good first approximation)
  • mytailorisrich 5y ago
    In France taxes on car fuels go to the general budget, they are not earmarked for roads.
• ponyous 5y ago
  I think it would help. My hometown made free public transport and since then my mom does all the trips she can with a bus (she doesn't like driving a car too much, has to do it every day for almost 2hrs due to work).
• iggldiggl 5y ago
  In Germany they recently did some experiments – while it has to be said that the comparison was only with a fare reduction and not a full-scale abolishment of fares, they found that service increases were more likely to attract additional users than fare reductions. So unless service levels are already maxed out and really cannot be increased further without disproportionally large investment, I'd personally rather prefer that that money was spent on funding more frequent services instead.
  • IshKebab 5y ago
    I think it probably depends on the level of service and the price. Especially on whether or not public transport is cheaper than driving. I'd love to take the train more in the UK but it's both way less convenient and far more expensive than driving. E-scooters might help make it a bit more convenient at least because they make it easier to get too/from the station. But that doesn't help with the price.