Fare-free public transport: From policy fringes to an established practice

Fare-free public transport (FFPT) is gaining attention worldwide, as the number of localities implementing this policy has grown rapidly in recent years. While fares are predominantly approached from a technical or economic perspective, abolishing them and effectively providing fare-free access to public transport (PT) may constitute a strategy towards addressing fundamental social, political, and environmental goals.

Therefore, in this chapter, we engage with FFPT from a social and political perspective, combining insights from growing literature on the subject with empirical material gathered throughout our own research. Notably, we build on a survey conducted in Poland and the United States, where the number of localities that suspended fare collection is particularly high, as well as qualitative research into five FFPT cases: Aubagne (France), Castilla y León (Spain), Lubin (Poland), Luxembourg, and Tallinn (Estonia).

Based on this material, we explore six aspects of FFPT. First, we discuss its geography, asking in what kind of settings the policy has been applied. Second, we look at the operational and economic aspects of FFPT, assessing how much it costs to suspend fares and how it functions. Third, we reflect upon its audience: who benefits from FFPT and what implications does universal access to PT have for different population groups? Fourth, we discuss the difficulty of assessing whether FFPT generates a modal shift towards PT. Fifth, we explore the governance of FFPT: the motivation behind it and actors that promote and oppose the policy, its mobility and circulation, and its impact on broader policy-making. Finally, we look at micropolitical aspects of FFPT, inquiring how it affects the publicness of PT, the labour conditions of transport workers, as well as the management and control of passengers.