🆓 Freebies - MM#615

Free public transport should not be about mode shift

Good day my good friend.

No witty remarks or musings on the state of the world today. Just straight to the newsletter, you lucky things.

If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else who you think will love it. I will love you forever if you do. ☺️

James

🎫 Free travel should not be about getting people on public transport

A policy idea that continually raises its head over the years and is often beloved by activists is that of free public transport. You can probably guess the idea by the name - public transport is made free within a specific geographic area and/or time period, with taxpayers picking up the operational costs that were previously covered by farebox revenue. It is often treated with a kind of reverence, as though it is as near as dammit to a magic bullet of getting people onto public transport.

To get the obvious point out of the way - free public transport does encourage more people onto public transport. A basic understanding of transport economics could tell you that - you make an option cheaper, people will use it. The most well-known example of Tallinn, Estonia, shows that after a year of free public transport across the city, its use increased by 14%. Other studies point to increases being particularly large during off-peak periods - around 23% in a case study in Santiago, Chile. Again, this is not a shock, as the choice of making trips during off-peak hours are found to be more discretionary and so the impact of fare changes is much larger on people who travel during these times. Or in economics terms, the demand is relatively more elastic.

Most likely an off-peak traveller (Source: Travel House)

It also needs stating that free travel is far from a perfect solution. Studies of free travel have shown that it can result in security issues such as increased vandalism - public transport companies would state that they have a habit of attracting the ‘problem riders’ to local buses and trains. Free travel without associated other investment can also make the operational and customer experience of public transport worse. Services are more likely to be overcrowded, to the point whereby the schedule breaks down as the speed benefits of not collecting fares (i.e. not having the pay the driver) are overwhelmed by overcrowded buses and trains.

Additionally, there may also be local circumstances where implementing a local free travel scheme doesn’t actually solve the problem. In an effort to tackle traffic congestion, Luxembourg adopted free travel on public transport in the country. The results so far are inconclusive - mainly because it was launched in 2020 and we know what happened then. But it does not tackle a big source of the traffic issues in the country - people driving into the country from France, Germany, and Belgium.

But, one big strength of free public transport is its impacts on the most vulnerable in society. There is evidence that free public transport (and other heavy discounts) can increase the use of public transport amongst the poorest in society in the short term¹. The financial benefit may be particularly pronounced as evidence from Sweden shows that lower income users tend to buy more expensive fares (e.g. day tickets) as opposed to discounted tickets (season tickets) as the latter have a higher upfront cost.

As we know from numerous travel surveys, many disadvantaged groups typically use public transport more. And consequently, while reducing the fare barrier may not reduce the primary reason why they use public transport, it makes a bigger difference to them.

Framing free fares in this context is important for one reason: it sets the outcome you want to achieve first. Focussing it in modal shift - which is an output we do want to achieve - restricts the view of free fares to a functional one, and thus an economic one. And that does not play to the strengths of the idea. Its strength is in reducing the barriers to participating in society experienced by the most vulnerable, and that is where the case is made for the idea.

Free public transport does cost a lot of money. It is important to understand such costs and benefits to see if an idea is financially feasible, and to explore other revenue raising options (e.g. to fund the loss of fare revenue covering 10% of its operational costs, Dunkirk in France introduced a versement mobilité to make up the revenue). But that is a matter of viability and the will to see new ways to finance a good idea, where we should be arguing based on what we want to achieve. Free public transport in your area won’t solve all problems with public transport, but it goes some way to helping the most vulnerable.

What you can do: This case study of free public transport on the Eltis website is a great introduction to the idea. If you want to develop the idea, you will also need to understand who in your community will benefit the most. This is a good example by Derby City Council, and you will need to work out how to administer it.

Then get a campaign going locally, starting with a small group of you in your neighbourhood. Make sure you make the case based on its social outcomes that result from modal shift, and don’t make modal shift the outcome you are seeking.

🎓 From academia

The clever clogs at our universities have published the following excellent research. Where you are unable to access the research, email the author - they may give you a copy of the research paper for free.

Distracted by familiarity: Implications of ‘autopilot’ as a default cognitive mode

TL:DR - We really should research how ‘switching off’ when driving a familiar road impacts how we drive.

Cycling under the influence of alcohol and other drugs: An exploratory analysis

TL:DR - Nearly half of Paris cyclists have cycled while drunk, and its not a good thing to do as they don’t learn from it.

Comparing the bad media-fuelled reputation of e-scooters with real-life user and non-user perceptions: Evidence from Sweden

TL:DR - Turns out even non-users of e-scooters think they are ok, despite hostile press coverage.

Future renewable energy targets in the EU: Impacts on the German transport

TL:DR - The targets on vehicle fleet electrification are tough.

✊ Awesome people doing awesome things

A shout out to those who provide bike lessons to kids, teaching them a critical life skill.

National training schemes like Bikeability get an unfair amount of grief from activists who should know better. Yes, they are not as effective to achieving mass cycling as infrastructure is. But this does not mean that this is not important. Between April and March last year, over 450,000 children in the UK alone received such training. Elsewhere, the mayor of Boston in the USA announced free city-wide lessons for all kids aged between 3 and 14 years old.

Most of these lessons are delivered by volunteers. A special shout out goes to Carl, Leanne, and Peter who are my local trainers. You are doing great work!

📼 On the (You)Tube

This is a good reflection on why, given people know that MOAR ROADS = BAD, why do we keep on losing that argument? It touches on how we frame the conversation. Personally, I have found that shaming people into things is a really bad thing to do.

🖼️ Graphic Design

WeWork WeCrashed (Source: r/dataisbeautiful)

Every now and then a company will come along with a huge valuation saying they will change the world. And some could have changed things, like WeWork who promised a world of flexible working (with subsequent impacts on travel patterns). Remember to always, always check the fundamentals of the business - its costs, income, and profitability. That tells you everything.

📚 Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.

• BlackRock study finds gender-balanced companies outperform peers (Financial Times)

• Three major gaps in climate-adaptation finance for developing countries (Carbon Brief)

• AI: the real threat may be the way that governments choose to use it (The Conversation)

• Extending the Fossil Fuel Era, One Trick at a Time (God’s Spies)

• After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly (Ars Technica)

✍️ Your feedback is essential

I want to make the calls to actions better. To do this, I need your feedback. Just fill in the 3 question survey form by clicking on the below button to provide me with quick feedback, that I can put into action. Thank you so much.

1. It should be noted that many will make the point that free public transport benefits the richest the most. This is because when they use public transport, it is often the most expensive modes (rail) and they travel longer distances. This is a false equivalence in my view, which I will explain more another time.