Europe’s richest country made public transport free: Could other countries do the same?

Luxembourg recently celebrated three years of free public transport. And, according to the people who live there, it has been a resounding success.

As countries look to encourage citizens to ditch their cars to cut carbon emissions, could Luxembourg’s success be replicated across Europe?

“The quality of public transport needs to change completely,” says Francois Bausch Vice Prime Minister and Luxembourg’s Minister of Mobility and Public Works and of Defence.

“There is no magic wand. It’s not just one mode of transport which will solve all of our problems, but instead we must be truly multimodal, we have to mix them.”

Bausch explains that the country decided to make public transport free for two reasons: to give everyone fair access and to encourage debate and awareness around a decade of change in its mobility system.

Back in 2013 when Bausch first took up his position, rush hour traffic jams were a daily occurrence in Luxembourg City centre. Now there are none thanks to the increased use of the tram system and a reorganisation of the way its streets work.

The tram has exclusive right of way and has priority at crossings so is never stuck in traffic jams. This combined with the fact that it’s free encourages more people to use it. Bausch sees it as a measure of the success of Luxembourg’s transport transformation.

Cars haven’t completely disappeared and the country still has the highest car ownership per household in Europe. Around 230,000 people cross the border into Luxembourg each day for work and 75 per cent of these journeys are made by car.

“You shouldn’t argue against something, but for something,” Bausch says.

“I do not make policies against cars, but for another mobility system in which the car has its place.”

Making