Advertisement
Climate change
OpinionComment
Chee Yik-wai
Chee Yik-wai

Opinion | How free public transport can help Asian countries tackle climate change and inequality

  • Some countries are embracing free or nearly-free public transport in an effort to reach their climate goals and fight inflation
  • While this is not a panacea, it offers a way for Asia to address environmental issues and traffic congestion that slows economic growth

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Chee Yik-wai
Free or nearly-free monthly public transport throughout an entire country sounds too good to be true and, in Asia, it is almost unthinkable. In Europe, however, this solution is being increasingly embraced and could be a new normal to reach climate goals and fight historic levels of inflation.
Advertisement

To ease people’s financial burden, typically bureaucratic Germany recently introduced one of its boldest experiments with lightning speed. It offered a €9 (US$9) monthly transport pass for local and regional public transport across the nation for anyone, including international tourists, from June to August. Spain is following suit with its own public transport discount making some rail journeys free until the end of the year.

The Association of German Transport Companies estimated that 52 million such tickets were sold, and I was among the buyers in August. This number does not include the 10 million season-ticket holders who were automatically granted one. An estimated 1 billion journeys were made monthly using the pass.

Coming with a hefty price tag of €2.5 billion, this has turned out to be one of the German government’s most popular policy decisions. German public opinion points to overwhelming support for its continuation.

Assuming the estimates are accurate, about 10 per cent of buyers used the pass to drop at least one of their daily car trips, which reduced petrol expenses. Some say it temporarily helped reduce Germany’s inflation rate in June and July. It also reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1.8 million tonnes during the three months of the programme.

01:50

‘Zombie’ trains in Jakarta aim to attract young people to public transportation

‘Zombie’ trains in Jakarta aim to attract young people to public transportation
This is roughly equivalent to emissions from powering 350,000 homes for an entire year or the expected savings from imposing a speed limit on the autobahn for one year. Perhaps more significantly, it enabled many people, especially those in lower-income groups, to enjoy affordable public transport to travel further afield, to places that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Advertisement