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Paris Will Make Public Transportation Free for Kids (citylab.com)
In a plan to help families and reduce car usage, anyone under 11 years old will be able to ride metro and buses for free, as will people with disabilities under 20. From a report: Starting in September, Paris is making all public transit free for people under 11, including non-nationals. Preteens aren't the only ones getting a bonus, either. All people with disabilities will get free public transit until the age of 20, while high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 will be entitled to a 50 percent tariff reduction. To make transit access for this group even easier, any 14- to 18-year-olds who buy a travel pass will also get a free bikeshare account as well.
The plans, which apply across the Greater Paris region and cost an estimated $17 million a year, are part of a staggered plan to make things cheaper for people with mobility challenges. Already last spring, the region introduced a (means-tested) scheme by which adults with disabilities and all people over 65 got a free annual travel pass if they were on a low-to-medium income. This new plan to extend cheap or no fares toward younger people should make the public transit system more widely accessible and prove to be a happy cost-saver for families.
The plans, which apply across the Greater Paris region and cost an estimated $17 million a year, are part of a staggered plan to make things cheaper for people with mobility challenges. Already last spring, the region introduced a (means-tested) scheme by which adults with disabilities and all people over 65 got a free annual travel pass if they were on a low-to-medium income. This new plan to extend cheap or no fares toward younger people should make the public transit system more widely accessible and prove to be a happy cost-saver for families.
London's a big, busy city. Every mode of transport is uncomfortable from time to time -- driving is a pain, cycling and walking gets you a faceful of fumes, etc. But it's London, and the upsides far outweigh these inconveniences for me and millions of others.
Just wondering...
Glad to see other cities catching up, as enabling use of public transit is one of the best ways to reduce traffic, pollution, etc
Unfortunately not. You can make as much public transport you want in cities, but as soon as you move people to public transport, the roads clear up, and new people start driving. Lessening congestion will also encourage people to move further away from their jobs, bringing you back to more traffic and pollution.
If you want to reduce traffic and pollution, the only effective ways to do it are increased congestion for cars and massively increased costs of driving. The cost of alternatives to driving is insignificant, since the advantages of car transport are so large -- people will pay a lot extra to drive. Once you have made driving painful or overly expensive, you can then add public transport to make the situation bearable for the population.
It is nice to think that there are happy fluffy ways to make traffic better. I really wish it was possible.
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