Free Public Transport in Tallinn — A Brave Step towards the Green Capital

Background Information

An economic crisis excluded too many residents of the city from access to public transport due to lowered purchasing power, unemployment, and decreased real wages. Thus the crisis is undermining social cohesiveness.

Traffic’s ability to connect the city center with the residential area keep decreasing in spite of the increasing number of cars. Air pollution and noise from intense traffic threatened the residents’ health and historic Old Town, which was enrolled in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Goals of the Initiative

Free public transport strengthens social cohesiveness, boosts urban mobility, and adds flexibility to the labor market.

Public transport was listed as one key project since it played an important role in achieving smoother urban traffic, reducing air pollution, noise, and traffic accidents.

Apart from advocating walking, the integration of bike riding with public transport will improve the health of people.

The project also motivates unregistered residents of the city to register their place of living officially in Tallinn. This increases the city revenues from personal income tax which enables the municipality to improve public services and quality of life for all residents. 

Parties and Partners for the Initiative and Resources Used for Implementation

Tallinn Transport Department

Municipal Transport Company

Local and international experts

NGOs

The resources used for implementing the initiative include

Municipal referendum, which evolved into effective debate and decision-making by the entire population, was held from March 19 to 25, 2012. The result of the poll – 75 percent for and 25 percent against free public transport — provided a strong mandate for the city administration to further prioritize public transport.

Tallinn expanded exclusive bus lanes at the expense of car lanes, raises tariffs, and expanded the paid area for parking in the city center, enhanced the development of park and ride schemes, developed exclusive light traffic/bicycle roads and their parking facilities.

New contactless card system in the vehicles for the Unified Ticketing System, which started operating in September 2012, provides the necessary technical platform for free public transport for residents of the city. Every ride will be counted and the system will be convenient for non-urban residents. 

Innovation for the Initiative

The idea of free public transport is not new and it is practiced in many places all over the world. However, Tallinn is the first capital city to offer free public transport. Thus the project might be considered both evolutionary and revolutionary.

•Healthy idea for the economy and environment

•Local referendum involved residents in decision-making

•Expanding exclusive bus lanes in the center of the city made bus-rides faster

•Contactless card system provides personalized benefits and travel statistics

•Motivation to register as a resident of the city increases budget for developing municipal services

•In Europe Hasselt (Belgium) and many other smaller towns have extensive experience in providing free public transport

Most notable interest in Tallinn´s project has come from countries including Germany and the Scandinavian peninsula.

Obstacles and Solutions for Innovation

Ticket revenue of 14 million Euros has to be compensated from other sources of the budget. Increasing the number of registered tax-payers would however at least balance the budget.

Communication and ticket sales to non-Tallinners and neighbor municipalities can help as well. However, the Tallinn policy inspires other municipalities and national administrations to consider new approaches for development of public transport. 

Outcomes and Assessments

Outcomes achieved are as follows:

•Improving social cohesiveness, granting mobility to all residents

•Enhancing the local economy by lowering labor expenses

•Increasing the visibility of Tallinn — European and global media coverage of this innovative solution has already generated wide interest

Tallinn is becoming the biggest city in the world to provide free public transport. Combining social urgency and needs of the economy with environmentally friendly solution strengthens Tallinn’s image as a smart and green city.

Assessments are as follows:

Tallinn carefully analyzes the experience of existing free public transport systems in Europe and elsewhere. The group of Estonian experts and the team of international experts from the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) presented the city their analyses and research proposals in October 2012.

Three key indicators:

Number of bus rides (presumably increasing)

Number of cars entering central area of the city (presumably decreasing)

Number of registered population and the gains from personal income tax

Methods Applied

Municipal referendum, which involved into effective debate and decision-making the entire population was held on March 19-25, 2012. The result of the poll - 75 percent for and 25 percent against free public transport provided strong mandate for city administration to further prioritize public transport.

Tallinn expands exclusive bus lanes at the expense of car lanes, raises tariffs and expands the paid area for parking in the city center, enhances development of park & ride schemes, develops exclusive light traffic/bicycle roads and their parking facilities.

New contactless card system in the vehicles of the Unified Ticketing System which started operating in September 2012, provided necessary technical platform for free public transport for residents of the city. Every ride will be counted and the system will be convenient also for non-urban residents. 

Benefits to Other Cities

Providing free public transport to local residents brilliantly links social urgency and the needs of the economy with an environmentally friendly solution. Multiple positive immediate and long-term effects of the project could inspire other cities and regions to consider fundamentally new approaches to urban mobility issues. Instead of remaining locked into the debates over the retaining of public transport ticket revenues, we think our free public transport for residents may serve as encouraging example of existing alternatives. We have several successful examples of free public transport in smaller towns, with populations up to 70,000. Tallinn provides a feasible example of free public transport in a medium-sized city with a population of 417,000.