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It is difficult to tell from the article what impact free public transport had, but it's clear that, when Estonians had the option to take no-cost public transp

It is difficult to tell from the article what impact free public transport had, but it's clear that, when Estonians had the option to take no-cost public transport or spend a ton of money on a personal vehicle (and incur the maintenance associated with it). They chose the substantially more expensive option. This is driven home by the fact that ridership fell "transit’s share of Tallinn commutes has fallen from over 40% in 2013, the year fares were eliminated for residents, to under 30% last year." Whatever services public transit was offering failed to meet the needs of many Estonians. It doesn't matter how inexpensive your product is if it doesn't deliver what people want.

fy20 3y ago
I live in another city in the Baltics, and I would not be surprised to see the same results here. The main reasons why would be: - During the 2010s GDP and real wages of these countries increased a lot. Cars shifted from being a luxury to being a standard - especially for younger people. We have a strong used car market, so cars are cheap to buy and repair here. I paid €3000 for a MPV which is my daily earlier this year. - Routes and frequency have not changed. It's not like London where there is a bus stop every 100m and maybe in the worse case you need to wait 12 minutes. In my area buses run every 20 minutes at the best of times, and the closest bus stops are 500m apart. - Public transport and buses are seen by the city as a cost center, not as something that makes the city better, so investment is not forthcoming. Although we have some brand new buses, most of them are 10+ year old buses bought second hand from Germany. Trolley buses are even worse (as they aren't as transferable as buses). A lot of them are nearly 30 years old. They are slow, uncomfortable and have no working heating during winter. - To take a bus to my office (central part of the city next to a large shopping mall) I'd need to change 3 times and if everything goes as planned it would take me just over an hour. Compare that to driving where in the best case it takes 15 minutes, or 30 minutes if the traffic is bad. It's much quicker and much more comfortable to drive. Parking is not an issue as all new office buildings and apartment block have underground parking.

fy20 3y ago

I live in another city in the Baltics, and I would not be surprised to see the same results here. The main reasons why would be: - During the 2010s GDP and real wages of these countries increased a lot. Cars shifted from being a luxury to being a standard - especially for younger people. We have a strong used car market, so cars are cheap to buy and repair here. I paid €3000 for a MPV which is my daily earlier this year. - Routes and frequency have not changed. It's not like London where there is a bus stop every 100m and maybe in the worse case you need to wait 12 minutes. In my area buses run every 20 minutes at the best of times, and the closest bus stops are 500m apart. - Public transport and buses are seen by the city as a cost center, not as something that makes the city better, so investment is not forthcoming. Although we have some brand new buses, most of them are 10+ year old buses bought second hand from Germany. Trolley buses are even worse (as they aren't as transferable as buses). A lot of them are nearly 30 years old. They are slow, uncomfortable and have no working heating during winter. - To take a bus to my office (central part of the city next to a large shopping mall) I'd need to change 3 times and if everything goes as planned it would take me just over an hour. Compare that to driving where in the best case it takes 15 minutes, or 30 minutes if the traffic is bad. It's much quicker and much more comfortable to drive. Parking is not an issue as all new office buildings and apartment block have underground parking.