A few years ago they already did some smaller-scale experiments in a few cities regarding fares and service offerings and the conclusion was clearly that better

A few years ago they already did some smaller-scale experiments in a few cities regarding fares and service offerings and the conclusion was clearly that better service was more effective in attracting additional passengers. Also according to https://www.science.lu/de/faktencheck-gratis-oepnv/was-bringt-kostenloser-oeffentlicher-transport https://www.science.lu/de/faktencheck-gratis-oepnv/was-bring..., while some smaller cities who have experimented with free public transport have seen substantial increases in passenger numbers (but still often only a limited number of conversions from car drivers), the biggest city that tried this so far (Tallinn) only saw an increase in passenger numbers of 8 %. In the recent case of Luxembourg, unfortunately the effects of Covid make it rather difficult to draw any valid conclusions. While I am not opposed to some moderate fare reductions, it should be kept in mind that in Germany, the average farebox recovery ration for local and regional public transport before Covid was around 75 %. Making public transport completely free would therefore mean quadrupling operating subsidies – and if through some miracle politics was really committed to spend that much more and for the long term, I'd much rather see the majority of that amount being spend on better services.