2,5 years of free public transport for tallinners June, 2015 Taavi Aas Deputy Mayor of Tallinn

Basic figures Population of Tallinn (1st June 2015) City budget ~ 530 Mio € Total fleet (buses, trams, trolleys) – 440 (2012)/ 477 (today) PT budget – 53 Mio € in 2012 (61 Mio € in 2015) 2012 tickets revenue 17 Mio €, 5 Mio € from non-residents Annual cost of free PT for residents: 12 Mio €

22 Why we did it? 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 Informing the community and involved them in decision-making, thus locking the decision politically. Yes -75,5%, No - 24,5% FPT for the residents of Tallinn started from 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) 44 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 Mio euros into city budget Cost of FPT (12 Mio) covered with surplus 55 Fiscal demography

Initial results 6 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 7 times higher However total share of trips made by train out of all PT trips remain >2% Textbook case how the price matters more than quality 7

Inspired by others, inspiring others Bringing together free public transport cities, movements/activists and researchers Annual FPT conferences 2012 and 2013 in Tallinn, 2014 in Zory, Poland, September in Avesta, Sweden Bilateral exchanges with Chengdu, China 8

Green Tallinn City of Tallinn is working hard to achieve the European Green Capital nomination for 2018 Free Public Transport is one brave step in this process ˇ 9