Every day millions of Swedish people travel by public transport such as buses, trams and subway trains. This can be for various reasons including people travelling into and around towns and cities for work, school and a myriad of other reasons. The question is wether this public transport system should be free to use for anyone who needs or wants to. There are arguments for both the advantages and disadvantages of free public transport, the purpose of this essay is to explore and present both sides of the issue.
Free public transport would mean big expenses for the government with more people using it; more lines would have to be built, more carriages brought in to the system and more people working with and around it, which might take away money from other areas. People might take public transport for granted and treat the workers and property with less respect, homeless people might also use it for shelter.
One serious advantage with free public transport is that it is the most environmental friendly way of travelling and having it free would mean more people using it. It would take more cars of the roads and make travelling safer. Safer in the way of experienced drivers and less drink driving, but also safer for the people who else would have been going by bike or walked alone in the dark. Even if would be expensive to expand public transport and making it free, the money people save from not buying a ticket would go straight back into the economy by them spending it on something else.
Hi!!! We have a dream..:-) We agree with you, you have good ideas but in Italy your solutions can't be realized yet. First of all in Italy tickets are paid before you take public transport. Because checks are very infrequent many people don't pay for the tickets and so ticket prices are increasing. If public transport service was efficient, clean, on time, safe, we would pay the ticket price with pleasure!!! In our opinion tickets must be paid on public transport like in all countries. If this system worked, ticket wouldn't need to be free because they would be cheap. Your solution is an example of welfare state management. In theory it is a perfect system but in practice there are a lot of problems. In Italy it hasn't survived and now it's collapsing.
Hi! it's a nice idea, however, i think it's impossible to realize, at least until we get a communistic rule here in Sweden... The thing is that the costs would be so high that it would require a tax-raise and I don't think that would go well with the public since we already have relatively high taxes. I agree with you however that the prices for public transport are far too expensive. At least in the cities, more people ought to use public transports. Where I live however, in Funäsdalen, that's not possible. The public transport here is very limited. That's also becoming a problem with the rising fuel prices. And yes, we get "countryside grants" (landsortsbidrag) of 30 kronor/year (that's about 3-4 euro). I would like to use public transport more often, but if you're three or four people in a car, it's far less expensive than taking the train...
I really like your idea, but like Mika says, I think it is kind of impracticable. Perhaps it will work in bigger cities where the public transport is well-developed,but for us in the country it will not work. Our public transport prices have increased lately, but if you look at the price of driving you car, it is cheaper to takethe bus anyway. I take the bus as much as I can, but it is not easy to catch one at the time you would like it to go, you are lucky if it comes a bus in the next two hours... So I would like to develop the transports first and to afford it, you have to pay a little.
Hi Guys! Thanks for the respond, it’s really interesting. It’s actually the same here at some places; at the subways and the trams you pay before you get on. Something that makes some people not pay, but on the busses you have to pay when you get on so no one can get away there, but according to me that’s not where the problem lies.
Free public transport would improve the system. It is going to increase the number of people using it, so it should result in an expansion of the system which means that it’s more convenient for the people and as a result to that people should treat it with more respect. As you said, it might be a dream that is hard to full fill, but at least it’s an interesting discussion!
In response to Isabelle: I really agree whit Isabelle when she says that public transport should be free because it could help the enviroment. People will choose buses, subways or trams instead of taking their own car so pollution could be reduced. it's true that if public transport service is efficient, clean and on time we pay with pleasure but at the same time if public transport was free many and many more people would take it. There are also other advantages: - homeless or poor people could take public transport - less cars, so car accidents are less likely - less traffic, so people could arrive on time! But there are also problems: first of all economic problems because this initiative needs a lot of money; the Government should pay and especially in Italy it doesn't have money. Another problem is that often public transport isn't efficient so people don't choose it even if it is free. Money should be used also to improve the transport system. So, before making free transport we should think how and where to get amount of money needed.
I think that public transport constitutes the best way to circulate into a city. Pollution, traffic, racket, disarray can decrease and cities certainly become more livable. But there are a lot of problems connected with it. For example often people don't pay any ticket while they are getting on a bus or sometimes they do a bad use of it, soiling seats or writing above it. I think that if public transport becomes free this could increase the numbers of the users, making the air better; but this should include a way to increase the value of the service. People should appreciate the importance of it, because it constitutes the right of moving. A way to solve this problem maybe can be the inclusion of a little annual tax in the general one that people pay to the State and a ticket certificating the ability to use it. At the same time promoting public transport and better use of it is necessary. In fact there is a big difference in our perception of what is public. For example Spanish do a better use of public transport than italians! And Swedish?
In response to Isabelle, HI!!! Of course it would be a great idea, but how much realistic is it??? I'm not very satisfied about public transport in Italy, maybe cause i live in a small village and we only have bus for small dinstances and treins. the service is not very good in terms of price, cleaness and punctuality... but also in terms of frequency maybe in big cities it is different!!! i spent 7 months in germany and it was like a dream for me, everything there works very efficiently... and i never complained about to not have the car there. if public transport worked they would represent the best solution to solve problem such traffic, incidents, air pollution. it's impossible to make them free, but maybe we could hope in a right compromise.
Hi everyone! Last two weeks I was absent because I was working in Genova at “Festival della Scienza”. I would like to say Isabella that Genova has a very good public transport service unlike Livorno (which is my own town). In Livorno we have a specific timetable at each bus stop (for example, bus number 2: 14.29, 14.43…) , but it is quite useless because the bus are rarely on time and sometimes they miss. In Genova instead there isn’t any timetable because it’s no necessary. Indeed the bus are very frequent and at a few bus stops there’s a screen with the minutes left till the next bus. In Livorno a bus ticket costs 1 euro, in Genova 1,20 euro, but you can have a weekly ticket for only 12 euro. I willingly spent 1,20 euro (or more for a pass) if I get a good service. Therefore I think free public transport should be a great thing, but first of all what it’s important in my opinion is a good service.
During the last few years, there has been a lot of debates in Sweden regarding public transport. One of the big issues has been the introduction of free travelling with bus, trolley, train and subway. At a first glance, free public transport would seem like an excellent idea. However, like every other issuse, this question has both advantages and disadvantages, wich I’m going to write about in my essay. The first thing I thought about was that an increase in people using the public transportation system would benefit the environment, since people would use their cars less, and fewer cars on the roads means less pollution and less contribution to the greenhouse effect. A small Danish research, where this was tried out, shows however, a powerful upturn in the amount of public transportation travellers, whereof only one third was former autoists. Consequently, the public traffic grew, whereas the amount of cars was only slightly reduced. Maybe it would be better to use resources to improve public transport and make it more alluring to people who today rather stick to their cars. Another important question is how to fund free public transport. And as alwas, the taxpayers are the ones affected. However, taxpayers of today also have to pay for maintenance of roads and for traffic accidents, wich there should be less of with fewer cars on the road. This could also be a question of public health. With free public transport, fewer people would walk or bike to their jobs, even if it’s only a short distance away. In the longrun, this could lead to illnesses like heart desease and diabetes, due to people being sedentary. Free buses, trolleys etcetera would also give lower priority to bicycle lanes and walkways, making cities dependent on traffic for people to move around. I believe this proposal could be successful in some places, but more research is necessary before you can say if free public transport is beneficial or not. What do you think? Is this something you talk about in Italy too?
Hi! Interesting topic you chose. I have taught about why the public transport system is not free for a long time. You have mentioned the most common arguments both for and against in the question. You really hit the nail on the head with the argument that it would be safer for individuals. I know loads of people that do not take the bus or tram after a night out because it costs money. They take the risk walking home on their own instead.
Another argument for why it should not be free is that people who normally walk or cycle to work and school would take the bus instead. That would affect their health in a bad way. It would also create many new jobs, which is another big advantage.
Public transports can’t be free, because it would be too much expensive for governament. We must improve and organize them, so they become a good alternative to private cars. In same countries of the world, for example Hong Kong, public transports are efficient, cheap and used by all people!!!... The use of them should decrease the emission of noxious gas! But in Italy the problem is that we must modify ours old cities to modern needs of moviment and it isn’t simple!!
12 comments:
Every day millions of Swedish people travel by public transport such as buses, trams and subway trains. This can be for various reasons including people travelling into and around towns and cities for work, school and a myriad of other reasons. The question is wether this public transport system should be free to use for anyone who needs or wants to. There are arguments for both the advantages and disadvantages of free public transport, the purpose of this essay is to explore and present both sides of the issue.
Free public transport would mean big expenses for the government with more people using it; more lines would have to be built, more carriages brought in to the system and more people working with and around it, which might take away money from other areas. People might take public transport for granted and treat the workers and property with less respect, homeless people might also use it for shelter.
One serious advantage with free public transport is that it is the most environmental friendly way of travelling and having it free would mean more people using it. It would take more cars of the roads and make travelling safer. Safer in the way of experienced drivers and less drink driving, but also safer for the people who else would have been going by bike or walked alone in the dark. Even if would be expensive to expand public transport and making it free, the money people save from not buying a ticket would go straight back into the economy by them spending it on something else.
In response to Isabelle..
Hi!!!
We have a dream..:-)
We agree with you, you have good ideas but in Italy your solutions can't be realized yet.
First of all in Italy tickets are paid before you take public transport.
Because checks are very infrequent many people don't pay for the tickets and so ticket prices are increasing.
If public transport service was efficient, clean, on time, safe, we would pay the ticket price with pleasure!!!
In our opinion tickets must be paid on public transport like in all countries.
If this system worked, ticket wouldn't need to be free because they would be cheap.
Your solution is an example of welfare state management. In theory it is a perfect system but in practice there are a lot of problems. In Italy it hasn't survived and now it's collapsing.
Giusy, Lorenza and Chiara
In response to Isabelle...
Hi! it's a nice idea, however, i think it's impossible to realize, at least until we get a communistic rule here in Sweden... The thing is that the costs would be so high that it would require a tax-raise and I don't think that would go well with the public since we already have relatively high taxes. I agree with you however that the prices for public transport are far too expensive. At least in the cities, more people ought to use public transports. Where I live however, in Funäsdalen, that's not possible. The public transport here is very limited. That's also becoming a problem with the rising fuel prices. And yes, we get "countryside grants" (landsortsbidrag) of 30 kronor/year (that's about 3-4 euro). I would like to use public transport more often, but if you're three or four people in a car, it's far less expensive than taking the train...
In response to Isabelle...
I really like your idea, but like Mika says, I think it is kind of impracticable. Perhaps it will work in bigger cities where the public transport is well-developed,but for us in the country it will not work. Our public transport prices have increased lately, but if you look at the price of driving you car, it is cheaper to takethe bus anyway. I take the bus as much as I can, but it is not easy to catch one at the time you would like it to go, you are lucky if it comes a bus in the next two hours...
So I would like to develop the transports first and to afford it, you have to pay a little.
In respond to; Giusy, Lorenza and Chiara
Hi Guys!
Thanks for the respond, it’s really interesting. It’s actually the same here at some places; at the subways and the trams you pay before you get on. Something that makes some people not pay, but on the busses you have to pay when you get on so no one can get away there, but according to me that’s not where the problem lies.
Free public transport would improve the system. It is going to increase the number of people using it, so it should result in an expansion of the system which means that it’s more convenient for the people and as a result to that people should treat it with more respect. As you said, it might be a dream that is hard to full fill, but at least it’s an interesting discussion!
In response to Isabelle:
I really agree whit Isabelle when she says that public transport should be free because it could help the enviroment. People will choose buses, subways or trams instead of taking their own car so pollution could be reduced.
it's true that if public transport service is efficient, clean and on time we pay with pleasure but at the same time if public transport was free many and many more people would take it. There are also other advantages:
- homeless or poor people could take public transport
- less cars, so car accidents are less likely
- less traffic, so people could arrive on time!
But there are also problems: first of all economic problems because this initiative needs a lot of
money; the Government should pay and especially in Italy it doesn't have money.
Another problem is that often public transport isn't efficient so people don't choose it even if it is free. Money should be used also to improve the transport system.
So, before making free transport we should think how and where to get amount of money needed.
In response to Isabelle
I think that public transport constitutes the best way to circulate into a city. Pollution, traffic, racket, disarray can decrease and cities certainly become more livable. But there are a lot of problems connected with it. For example often people don't pay any ticket while they are getting on a bus or sometimes they do a bad use of it, soiling seats or writing above it.
I think that if public transport becomes free this could increase the numbers of the users, making the air better; but this should include a way to increase the value of the service.
People should appreciate the importance of it, because it constitutes the right of moving.
A way to solve this problem maybe can be the inclusion of a little annual tax in the general one that people pay to the State and a ticket certificating the ability to use it. At the same time promoting public transport and better use of it is necessary.
In fact there is a big difference in our perception of what is public.
For example Spanish do a better use of public transport than italians!
And Swedish?
Beatrice
In response to Isabelle,
HI!!!
Of course it would be a great idea, but how much realistic is it???
I'm not very satisfied about public transport in Italy, maybe cause i live in a small village and we only have bus for small dinstances and treins. the service is not very good in terms of price, cleaness and punctuality...
but also in terms of frequency
maybe in big cities it is different!!! i spent 7 months in germany and it was like a dream for me, everything there works very efficiently... and i never complained about to not have the car there.
if public transport worked they would represent the best solution to solve problem such traffic, incidents, air pollution. it's impossible to make them free, but maybe we could hope in a right compromise.
In response to Isabella
Hi everyone!
Last two weeks I was absent because I was working in Genova at “Festival della Scienza”.
I would like to say Isabella that Genova has a very good public transport service unlike Livorno (which is my own town).
In Livorno we have a specific timetable at each bus stop (for example, bus number 2: 14.29, 14.43…) , but it is quite useless because the bus are rarely on time and sometimes they miss.
In Genova instead there isn’t any timetable because it’s no necessary. Indeed the bus are very frequent and at a few bus stops there’s a screen with the minutes left till the next bus.
In Livorno a bus ticket costs 1 euro, in Genova 1,20 euro, but you can have a weekly ticket for only 12 euro.
I willingly spent 1,20 euro (or more for a pass) if I get a good service.
Therefore I think free public transport should be a great thing, but first of all what it’s important in my opinion is a good service.
Eleonora
During the last few years, there has been a lot of debates in Sweden regarding public transport. One of the big issues has been the introduction of free travelling with bus, trolley, train and subway.
At a first glance, free public transport would seem like an excellent idea. However, like every other issuse, this question has both advantages and disadvantages, wich I’m going to write about in my essay.
The first thing I thought about was that an increase in people using the public transportation system would benefit the environment, since people would use their cars less, and fewer cars on the roads means less pollution and less contribution to the greenhouse effect. A small Danish research, where this was tried out, shows however, a powerful upturn in the amount of public transportation travellers, whereof only one third was former autoists. Consequently, the public traffic grew, whereas the amount of cars was only slightly reduced. Maybe it would be better to use resources to improve public transport and make it more alluring to people who today rather stick to their cars.
Another important question is how to fund free public transport. And as alwas, the taxpayers are the ones affected. However, taxpayers of today also have to pay for maintenance of roads and for traffic accidents, wich there should be less of with fewer cars on the road.
This could also be a question of public health. With free public transport, fewer people would walk or bike to their jobs, even if it’s only a short distance away. In the longrun, this could lead to illnesses like heart desease and diabetes, due to people being sedentary. Free buses, trolleys etcetera would also give lower priority to bicycle lanes and walkways, making cities dependent on traffic for people to move around.
I believe this proposal could be successful in some places, but more research is necessary before you can say if free public transport is beneficial or not. What do you think? Is this something you talk about in Italy too?
In respond to isabelle:
Hi!
Interesting topic you chose. I have taught about why the public transport system is not free for a long time. You have mentioned the most common arguments both for and against in the question. You really hit the nail on the head with the argument that it would be safer for individuals. I know loads of people that do not take the bus or tram after a night out because it costs money. They take the risk walking home on their own instead.
Another argument for why it should not be free is that people who normally walk or cycle to work and school would take the bus instead. That would affect their health in a bad way. It would also create many new jobs, which is another big advantage.
Good luck with your essay!
Eva
Public transports can’t be free, because it would be too much expensive for governament.
We must improve and organize them, so they become a good alternative to private cars.
In same countries of the world, for example Hong Kong, public transports are efficient, cheap and used by all people!!!... The use of them should decrease the emission of noxious gas! But in Italy the problem is that we must modify ours old cities to modern needs of moviment and it isn’t simple!!
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