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.

Comments

London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

Glad to see other cities catching up, as enabling use of public transit is one of the best ways to reduce traffic, pollution, etc

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-...

Under 5 - Free with a paying adult
5 to 10 - Free with a paying adult, or on their own by using a free Oyster card
11 to 15 - Free when using a free Oyster card
16 to 17 - Free when using a free Oyster card... but only if you LIVE in London.

Re:London has done this for years

[shilly]

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.

Re:London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

That is sometimes true, but in London (and I suspect other big cities with metro systems like New York, Paris, etc.) it's usually the fastest way from A to B. Even the famous Black Cab with their privileged use of Bus Lanes, and intricate knowledge of the streets can't compete with the speed of a Tube Train through the centre of London.

It's not as bad as you imagine because everyone in London uses the tube, not just those that are downtrodden and smelly. In fact, many of the trains on the network are quite decent in comparison to what springs to mind when the phrase "public transport" is used:

http://www.railtechnologymagaz...
https://londonist.com/london/t...

Then you have the inter-city trains, like the one from London to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam etc. There's no comparison to flying:

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/...

Re:London has done this for years

[war4peace]

Yes, because car exhaust fumes aren't smelly at all.

Re:London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

To be honest, I've not had that for years. Yes it was very worrying, because what the hell was it? Brake dust, with added asbestos for extra flavour? Carbon from the electrics? Luckily the new trains don't seem to be anywhere near as dirty as the old ones, so black snot is a thing of the past.

I find it hard to imagine that they used to run steam trains burning coal through these tunnels. How disgusting would that have been! :-O

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...

Re:London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

I guess... yes. If you're independent enough at 4 years old to be swanning around London alone, then you get to pay for your own damn ticket! :-P

Re:London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

Interesting. Taking the London as an example:

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/a...
https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

So that's 10.2 billion / 8.1 million people... or £1,259 (1,620 USD) for each person. We could spread it across the country, but then we would need to include the costs for other transport companies.

Is it worth it?!? Maybe... but there are many angles to that argument.

Re:London has done this for years

[phayes]

The fastest way from A to B in Paris is not using public transport in Paris but is on two wheels which how I'm usually doing it almost year round: On a bicycle (public shared bikes or my own depending) for shorter trips and on my motorcycle for longer trips like to/from work which is usually on the other side of Paris from where I live. Except for special cases like A & B being on the same Metro line and close to the Metro exits, two wheels will be faster almost all the time (often 1/2 the time) and if A or B are outside Paris & you need to take a bus and or then walk for a while, 1/3 of the time. Now to be able to be so much faster than the Metro, buses or cars you will be lane splitting but that's allowed here and if done prudently & with experience is not dangereous.

Scooter (Mopeds for people in the US) sales in & around Paris have been skyrocketing for over a decade -- and not just 125cc models people can drive with their car drivers licenses or the 50cc models that you don't need a license for, more people pass the motorcycle license now intending to use a scooter than a motorcycle. Three wheeled scooters (look at Piaggio's main French web page: https://www.piaggio.com/fr_FR/) reassure those who are afraid of being unstable and (other than being more expensive) have pretty much the same advantages as two wheels.

Re:London has done this for years

[SD NFN STM]

Definite thumbs-up for two wheels! When I can take a bike, it's certainly faster than the bus or tube as you say. Being a fair-weather cyclist, I tend not to cycle as much as I'd like... plus the statistics for incidence or crashes and injury to weigh on my mind. Even if you're a careful rider, the actions of another can have catastrophic consequences for the cyclist. Same goes if you're driving a car, but then it's more 50/50 about who bears the consequences... unlike 99/1 when it comes to cycling.

Re:London has done this for years

[jellomizer]

I am sure to the French the English and Americans seem insincere. With its false politeness and friendliness to people you don't know.

As an American who lives in the North East section of the country, I often find people who are in the Southern Regions a bit too friendly to be trustworthy.
My Culture has taught me, If someone you don't know is too friendly with you, they are probably trying to sell you something, the more friendly they are the more they are going to rip you off.
That said, as an American, there are standards of politeness and well defined areas considered acceptable. Talk to people with at least a 1 meter gap between the other, but no more then 2 meters. Give people a firm handshake with eye contact, smile while introducing yourself. Ask "How Are You" when asked you answer you are "Doing Well" or "Good" even if you are not. When asked to be somewhere at a particular time, I am allowed +/- 5 minutes until I am considered late.

But these are cultural norms. In other countries and even areas of the United States, may either seem overly friendly and getting too close to a stranger, or to others may make you seem distant, and combative.

Re: London has done this for years

[Type44Q]

Black snot?! Riding the "tube??" Get yourself checked... and next time have him wear a condom.

Re:London has done this for years

[b0s0z0ku]

When you're driving, you're RIGHT BEHIND the last car in line's exhaust pipe. Concentration probably goes as the inverse square or cube of distance.

Re:London has done this for years

[b0s0z0ku]

Out of curiosity, what does London use for work/construction trains in the Tube? NYC uses diesel locomotives. Probably not as bad as a coal-burning steam engine, but if a work train with a locomotive or two passes through a station, the air gets pretty foul Fortunately, diesel engines don't produce much carbon monoxide, but it can't be healthy for the crews who work near the work trains for hours every day.

12- and 13-year-olds

[Anonymous Coward]

11 and under get to ride for free. 14 to 18 get a 50% discount.

So 12- and 13-year-olds get screwed, seemingly having to pay full fare.

Re:12- and 13-year-olds

[110010001000]

That is their punishment for hitting puberty. It is a rite of passage. Much like a Bar Mitzvah or Confirmation.

Re:12- and 13-year-olds

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Bus Mitzvah?

Same for Vienna since the 70ies

[Confused]

Same for Vienna. There pre-school children are always free and all school-children (up to 15, also later if you still go to school) get al free transportation card.

This isn't new and a really, really good thing. Good for Paris to catch up.

Re:17 millions a year ?

[Confused]

They might get to the point some day.

In general, children pay a reduced tariff so it affects the bottom line less. Even more so, when there are already subsidised, so the difference between subsidising all children isn't that big. It also reduces the hassles with distributing reduced price cards.

Another annoying thing are children under 15 riding alone and getting caught free-riding. You can easily fine adults, but with children things are more complicated. This problem is also gone when they don't need to pay.

Re:Another example

[nucrash]

AC, go pop out a couple of sex trophies so you can take advantage if you think it's such a savings.

Disabilities

[Reaper9889]

Honestly, the main problem for people with disabilities in Paris (of the physical kind anyway) is that many of the metro stations have no elevators. Hence, while it may be cheap or free for them, they will have to move further than others to get into and out of the metros (i.e. they have to go to the right metro stations - I have no idea how tricky it must be for some one with a disability that visits Paris to find out which stations they can get in and out of)... It is also annoying when you have to go up those 2-3 floors of stairs with a big suitcase.

I think they really should fix that, but I guess this is at least them starting to think of such things.