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Possibility of free public transport in Luxembourg

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adrock1976

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By Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent 5 December 2018

While rail travellers in Britain prepare for tickets to cost 3.1 per cent more in 2019, Luxembourg is set to become the first country in the world to abolish all fares on public transport.

A new coalition government is taking office in the Grand Duchy with the promise of abolishing tickets on trains, trams and buses next summer.

At present fares are capped at a low level: €2 for up to two hours of travel, which in the small nation covers almost any journey.

Luxembourg’s area is 999 square miles, almost the same as Oxfordshire.

Anyone who wants to include first-class rail pays €3. An all-day second-class ticket on every form of public transport costs €4.

Young people travel free, and many commuters qualify for an annual “mPass” which costs €150 for all public transport.

Luxembourg’s transport system costs close to €1bn per year to operate. But partly as a result of the concessionary offers, fares amount to only €30m annually.

From summer 2019, tickets are set to be abolished. Part of the cost will be covered by removing a tax break for commuters.

The move will save on the collection and processing of fares. It may also encourage a shift away from private cars; traffic congestion, especially around Luxembourg City, is a serious problem.

Some city centres around the world offer free transport in a bid to reduce congestion, and in some US counties the bus system is free. But no other nation has eliminated fares from its entire transport network.

Not every commuter is convinced about the idea. Claude Moyen, a teacher who travels by train to his school in the town of Diekirch every day, said he feared the quality of journeys might suffer, and added: “I’m not sure if making public transport free here in Luxembourg will take more people out of their cars.”

If the idea is deemed a success, neighbouring France may start to remove “peppercorn” fares from some bus services. At present passengers can travel for many miles to and from cities such as Nice and Perpignan for a flat fare of just €1.

One issue still to be considered in Luxembourg is the likelihood that homeless people may shrewdly decide to move from the streets to the trains in winter, in order to stay warm while they travel the nation.

In addition, no decision has been taken on how to handle the present demarcation between first and second class compartments on the trains.

The coalition of the centrist Democratic Party, the left-wing Socialist Workers’ Party and the Greens is led by premier-designate Xavier Bettel. It is known as the “Gambia coalition” because the parties’ colours are blue, red and green respectively – which together are the colours of the Gambian flag.

The new government is also aiming to legalisE cannabis, and to introduce two new public holidays – including one on 9 May, “Europe Day”.

Link to the article in its original form (contains a couple of videos): https://www.independent.co.uk/trave...blic-transport-trams-buses-when-a8668496.html

Luxembourg is considering the possibility of making public transport free so as to combat traffic congestion. I believe this might just be for Luxembourg City rather than the whole country.

I did start a thread earlier on this year regarding if free public transport would work in the UK. I recall that there seemed to be mixed responses.

For the UK, I would suggest as an experiment to have a trial in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sunderland (so as not to upset the Makems if that is the right nickname for the locals of Sunderland), Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, and Birmingham - practically those cities that are in the Passenger Transport Executive areas. Funding could come from business rates, and also the outstanding amount of tax due to HMRC that has been evaded by the likes of Phillip Green (BHS), Starbucks, Amazon, Google, Vodaphone, Gideon George Osborne, etc.
 
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Luxembourg is considering the possibility of making public transport free so as to combat traffic congestion. I believe this might just be for Luxembourg City rather than the whole country.
It’s not exactly expensive now: an all-country day ticket (effectively a day’s all-line) is €4, or €6 in first class.
 

DynamicSpirit

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For the UK, I would suggest as an experiment to have a trial in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sunderland (so as not to upset the Makems if that is the right nickname for the locals of Sunderland), Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, and Birmingham - practically those cities that are in the Passenger Transport Executive areas.

Uh? What you're describing would not be an experimental trial. That would be more like, a full blown implementation in almost all of the UK's largest cities. A trial would be something like 'let's do it for a year or so in - say - an area around central Birmingham'

Funding could come from business rates

From business rates? Have you estimated how much you would need to raise business rates by? Any thoughts about the impact that would have on small and large businesses around the country if you put up business rates up enough to pay for free public transport? Or about the devastation that would wreak have on town centres that are already struggling against online firms that - by virtue of being online - tend to pay fewer business rates?

I'm going to hazard a guess that you don't run a business, and you don't pay business rates. Are you sure this isn't a version of, let's have some free goodies and get someone else to pay for it in their taxes? Whatever the merits of free public transport (personally I think it might work in very limited circumstances and limited geographical areas, but certainly not across the whole country), if you are going to to it, shouldn't it be paid for from general taxation - or possibly in part through increased fuel duties?

and also the outstanding amount of tax due to HMRC that has been evaded by the likes of Phillip Green (BHS), Starbucks, Amazon, Google, Vodaphone, Gideon George Osborne, etc.

Ummm, have you any evidence that these companies and individuals are evading tax (an activity that is absolutely illegal). If you do have evidence of this, have you reported it to the police? To be blunt, your sentence here contains a very serious (and very likely, false) allegation. Certainly, several of the companies you cite have taken accounting measures to minimise their tax liabilities, often taking advantage of their multinational nature, to an extent that many people feel is unfair, and possibly unethical, but is legal. But I don't believe any have been found guilty of substantially evading tax (which is illegal).

And besides, do you really imagine there is some pot of billions of pounds that could be easily collected if only the Government could be bothered? I know lots of people on the left like to believe that, but... think about it... For about 7 years after 2010, we had a Government that was absolutely obsessed with minimising the deficit... with doing anything it could to narrow the gap between income and expenditure. Is it seriously plausible that this Government would deliberately let untold billions of tax that could have helped it achieve its prime objective go uncollected? Is it not rather more likely that the reason multinational organisations tend to pay so little tax is that it's extraordinarily difficult to devise regulations - and alongside that, various agreements between different countries - to stop companies that operate across multiple administrations from taking advantage of this to minimise their tax?
 

duesselmartin

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Luxembourg has less social problems than many UK, French, German cities.
So in a place Like Glasgow or Cologne you will have to deal with homeless.
I much prefer making public transport cheaper but yet keep a price. It also reduced unnecerssary journeys which take up capacity and consumes energy.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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If Simon Calder's figures are correct, passenger fares cover only 3% of the cost of CFL's rail system.
Compare that to our 65%-ish.
Luxembourg is of course one of the richest countries in Europe with one of the lowest tax regimes.
It might cost a resident only €4 for a day ticket on all transport, but it still cost me €10 for a 20-minute trip from Arlon (last station in Belgium) to Luxembourg city.
 
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