Two years of free public transport in Tallinn February, 2015 Allan Alaküla Head of Tallinn EU Office

Basic figures Population of Tallinn (1st February 2015) City budget ~ 530 Mio € Total number of PT vehicles in traffic (buses, trams, trolleybuses) – 440 (2012)/ 477 (today) 2012 PT budget – 53 Mio € in 2012 (61 Mio € in 2015) Total tickets revenue - 17 Mio € 5 Mio € from non-residents Cost of free PT for residents: 12 Mio € annually

Growing number of private cars City of Tallinn City with Harju county Growth in 3 years and 9 months: City of Tallinn – 35% Harju county – 36%

33 Why free public transport (FPT)? Social aspects: Guaranteeing mobility for unemployed and residents with low income Sharing common space by different segments of the society Economic aspects: Increasing labour mobility within the city limits Stimulating consumption of local goods and services Green aspects: Modal shift from cars to PT Cleaner air, less noise, more urban space Fiscal aspects: Strong motivation to register as residents, increasing personal income tax revenues to city budget

Plebiscite on free PT March, 2012 Plebiscite informed the community and involved them in decision-making, thus locking the free PT decision politically - power shift in the Council cannot change it easily Result: Yes -75,5%, No - 24,5% FPT for the residents in the municipal PT on the territory of the city started from Allan Alaküla, Head of Tallinn EU Office In the beginning there was a referendum

More space for PT: Summer 2012 expanding separated bus lanes network in city centre from 15 km to total 23 km Management: merger of two municipal public transport companies (June 2012) Accountability: implementation of new PT ticketing system based on contactless cards (from September 2012) 55 Preparatory steps

New residents: registered population in City of Tallinn grew since April 2012 by < persons Result: increasing municipal revenues from personal income tax every 1000 residents brings ca 1 million euros into city budget Cost of FPT 12 million covered with surplus 66 Main source of funding

Additional source of funding Raising parking tariffs and expanding paid hours from As average by +25% In Old Town 4.80, in the centre 3 euros hour It was communicated as for raising the bus drivers salary 7

Initial results 8 Number of passengers in 2014 up by 9% compared to 2012 PT is for 51% tallinners main mode of mobility in the city 74% of PT users are satisfied with the quality of the service Satisfaction index up from 3,61 (2010) to 3,93 (2014) on the scale of 5. 19% respondents claim they use PT more while it became free, 4% drive and 4% walk less 43% of unemloyed respondents claim FPT helps them to find new job

Free ride in trains From October 28, 2013 all trains became free for residents inside the city limits Paid from the city budget to Elron according to actual usage Usage quadrupled immediately, now 6 times higher compared to the previous time However total share of trips made by train out of all PT trips remain meagre 2% Textbook case how the price matters more that quality 9

Vision for expansion Expanding free public transport in Estonia nationwide to all county lines would cost 11 million euros, Even if adding capacity it remains still comparable to the FPT cost in Tallinn Making ferry connection free for the residents of 2 western islands is campaigned too 10

International FPT networking Bringing together free public transport cities, movements/activists and researchers Annual FPT conferences 2012 and 2013 in Tallinn, 2014 in Zory, Poland, 2015 FPT conference TBC in Avesta, Sweden Bilateral exchange with Chengdu, China 11

Dream of Tallinn City of Tallinn is looking forward to become the candidate for the European Green Capital nomination for 2018 FPT is one brave step in this process Free waste collection is under consideration ˇ 12