Why (not) abolish fares? Exploring the global geography of fare-free public transport

Abstract

Although the policy of abolishing fares in public transport—here referred to as “fare-free public transport” (FFPT)—exists in nearly 100 localities worldwide, it has not been thoroughly researched. To start filling this gap, I enhance the conceptual clarity about fare abolition. I start by providing a definition of FFPT, discussing its different forms, and introducing a distinction between “partial” FFPT and—the main focus of the paper—“full” FFPT. Next, I distinguish three perspectives on full FFPT—first, approaches that assess fare abolition primarily against its economic impact; second, analyses that look at its contribution to “sustainable” development; third, more critical arguments highlighting its politically transformative and socially just potential. Against the background of this debate I offer the most comprehensive inventory of full FFPT programmes to date, and begin to chart and examine their global geography. As a result, FFPT emerges as a policy that takes diverse forms and exists in diverse locations. Supported and contested by diverse rationales, it cannot be analysed as transport instrument alone.

Full text

Vol.:(0123456789)
Transportation (2020) 47:2807–2835
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-09986-6
1 3
Why (not) abolish fares? Exploring theglobal geography
offare‑free public transport
WojciechKębłowski1,2
Published online: 11 March 2019
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract
Although the policy of abolishing fares in public transport—here referred to as “fare-free
public transport” (FFPT)—exists in nearly 100 localities worldwide, it has not been thor-
oughly researched. To start filling this gap, I enhance the conceptual clarity about fare abo-
lition. I start by providing a definition of FFPT, discussing its different forms, and introduc-
ing a distinction between “partial” FFPT and—the main focus of the paper—“full” FFPT.
Next, I distinguish three perspectives on full FFPT—first, approaches that assess fare abo-
lition primarily against its economic impact; second, analyses that look at its contribution
to “sustainable” development; third, more critical arguments highlighting its politically
transformative and socially just potential. Against the background of this debate I offer the
most comprehensive inventory of full FFPT programmes to date, and begin to chart and
examine their global geography. As a result, FFPT emerges as a policy that takes diverse
forms and exists in diverse locations. Supported and contested by diverse rationales, it can-
not be analysed as transport instrument alone.
Keywords Fare-free public transport· Public transport· Urbantransport· Transport
policy· Transport geography· Fares
Introduction
Although the policy of abolishing fares in public transport (PT)—here referred to as “fare-free
public transport” (FFPT)—exists in full form in nearly 100 cities worldwide, it remains highly
controversial. On the one hand, it is criticised by transport engineers and economists. They
argue that from the perspective of utility, efficiency and economic growth (Cervero 1990;
Storchmann 2003), zeroing fares may harm PT networks financially and generate “useless
mobility” (Baum 1973; Duhamel 2004). They further claim that FFPT negates the essentially
liberal principle according to which a commodity such as collective transport must always
come at a “right” price (CERTU 2010). Moreover, scholars and practitioners who perceive
* Wojciech Kębłowski
wojciech.keblowski@vub.be
1 COSMOPOLIS Centre forUrban Research, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
2 Institut de Gestion de l’Environnement et d’Aménagement du Territoire (IGEAT), Université Libre
de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.