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posted by martyb on Thursday May 24 2018, @08:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-price-is-right dept.

http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/21/free-public-transport-across-estonia

Estonia is set to implement free transport for its residents across much of the country as of July 1. The free fare zone will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/05/estonia-will-roll-out-free-public-transit-nationwide/560648/

Estonia is already a world leader in free public transit: In 2013, all public transit in its capital, Tallinn, became free to local residents (but not tourists or other visitors, even those from other parts of the country). The new national free-ride scheme will extend this model even further, making all state-run bus travel in rural municipalities free and extending cost-free transit out from the capital into other regions.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25 2018, @10:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25 2018, @10:15AM (#683951)

    I spent a year taking the bus. It was faster for me to BICYCLE 30 miles *EACH WAY* than to take the bus to get anywhere. And for any sort of short bus trip the bike won hands down. However the number of places with bicycle stands was exceedingly small, and new buildings/shopping centers almost never include them. Furthermore bicycling during inclement weather is a terrible idea, and drivers constantly dip into the bike lanes, leaving you to either risk getting hit from behind, find (usually expensive) handlebar mirrors for your bike, or ride on the sidewalk, which is illegal and usually gets you dirty looks from pedestrians even if you give them right of way.

    I had an ex girlfriend who had to spend 3 hours each way to take the bus for what was otherwise a 15-30 minute car ride depending on traffic. Since it crossed county lines she had to transfer buses at the county border, take a second bus up to the cross street, then take that bus to her school. If any of the busses were delayed or broke down it could turn into a 5 hour bus ride, or in some cases on the way home, have the bus routes ended for the night before she got to the final bus home.

    Those examples are just for college students, where it is bad, but usually wouldn't lose you a job. For people doing that 5-7 days a week with the chance of being fired at any time, relying on public transportation is just foodhardy. And when they cut back bus routes/hours AND raised ticket prices it literally stopped making sense for anyone other than government workers and college students, because all other individuals didn't have their bus passes subsidized, and the cost for a monthly bus pass was actually *MORE* than gas and insurance for even a middle of the road car. And that middle of the road car would save you 1-4 hours each direction each day that could be put to use buying groceries or making trips to pay bills/deal with government services that disadvantaged people otherwise wouldn't be able to utilize.

    And that is in *CALIFORNIA* which is supposed to be the most hippy dippy state out there, behind maybe a few individual cities around the rest of the country.