Local public transport in Hasselt
The passenger in Hasselt became internationally known as the Belgian city of Hasselt in 1997, the public transport with buses Ground surrounded on a project funded purely by levies system. In 2013 the city council decided to reintroduce the sale of tickets due to massive cost increases. Other sources suspect that after the local elections in autumn 2012, new, conservative coalition partners softened the zero tariff system against the declared will of Mayor Hilde Claes.
Local public transport free of charge
Starting position
Hasselt was the fifth largest service and trade center in Belgium, was on the verge of ruin, and therefore could not finance a third bypass to relieve traffic.
The restaurant owner Steve Stevaert was angry about the traffic increase in his hometown in 1995 as a candidate for the mayoral election and won the election with his innovative transport concept. He took up a plan by the Flemish Minister of Transport Eddy Baldewijns, which gave priority to local public transport.
The city had about 68,000 inhabitants. There were only two bus routes and eight city buses that carried around 1,000 people a day, around 360,000 passengers a year.
activities
The bus system was expanded and a 15-minute cycle schedule was introduced. The high point of public awareness was that from July 1, 1997 all buses could be used by everyone free of charge. At the same time, the public was informed how expensive each kilometer is in one's own motor vehicle.
800 parking spaces in the urban area were abolished. Parking now cost 1 euro for the first hour, then 10 euros for half the day. The city invests the parking revenues directly in public transport.
Stevaert had the multi-lane inner city ring planted with 400 trees and transformed into a pedestrian and cyclist-friendly “Green Boulevard”.
During the pilot phase from 1997 to 2000, the City of Hasselt and the State of Flanders shared the costs of the bus system. The city reimbursed the transport provider for the loss of income due to the use not financed by tickets in the amount of around 800,000 euros. Despite the increase in passengers, this remained a negligible item in the municipal budget. Hasselt has to pay less than 1 percent of the city's budget to the transport provider. That is around 18 euros a year per taxpayer.
consequences
In around 15 years, sales and jobs in the city center of Hasselt tripled.
Since the changeover to zero tariff, the city buses have carried well over 2 million passengers annually, more than 3 million since 2000, and over 4 million since 2004. Due to the great success, fewer and fewer people paid for parking spaces, so that the financial basis collapsed. Therefore, around 2012, a small fee of EUR 0.50 / trip was introduced again.
Four-lane roads could be reduced to two lanes because the wide traffic arteries are no longer needed. With speed reductions and construction measures, the aspect of road safety was tackled again in 2005.
After his time as mayor Stevaert Minister of Transport was Flanders and Chairman of the SP.A . The city of Hasselt became known to the public all over Europe through this project.
Similar projects
Since 2013, registered residents of Tallinn in Estonia have also no longer required a ticket to use the city's bus network. Since in-commuters have to pay, this regulation causes citizens from the surrounding area to be re-registered.
In Portland, USA (580,000 inhabitants), all local transport in the city center was free. In neighboring Seattle , public transport was free on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. In 2012, the model of free public transport ended in both cities. The website freepublictransport.info describes 48 cities worldwide with public transport without tickets.
In the German cities of Lübben and Templin , there were free offers for passengers that were financed by taxes , emissions taxes or car parking fees.
In Lübben, with its 15,000 inhabitants, the city bus has been running for free since January 1998. The frequency of the buses was changed and the number of passengers increased by 3.5 times. But in Lübben there was no overall transport concept that would enable people to switch from cars to public transport in the surrounding communities.
In Templin, Brandenburg, with its 14,000 inhabitants, the four city bus routes ran free of charge as part of a two-year model project. As a result, the number of passengers rose 7.5-fold between 1997 and 1998, although there was no overall concept here either.
It is one of the goals of various parties and environmental associations to introduce ticket-free local transport across Germany. However, since the two projects in Templin and Lübben were discontinued, there have been no systems in Germany comparable to Hasselt.
Tübingen's Lord Mayor Boris Palmer ( Greens ) wants the citizens to vote on free use of city buses. There are two funding proposals. Every citizen would have to pay 150 euros a year (socially staggered) or a city toll would be introduced to finance local public transport.
Light rail traffic
On December 18, 2012, the city council of Maastricht in the Netherlands decided that the transnational project “Tramverbinding Vlaanderen-Maastricht” should be implemented. It is a connection between the Hasselt and Maastricht centers in the Netherlands . Between the cities it takes on tasks such as the Euregiobahn in Aachen , within the towns it drives to the city center. Most of the route is on Belgian territory. This part is part of the 300 million Spartacus plan, which is intended to bring a series of improvements in regional transport in Belgian Limburg.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Free use of local transport in Tallinn from 2013 - a model for other cities? On: Zukunft-mobilitaet.net
- ↑ Has the zero tariff system (NTS) failed in Hasselt? Not at all! . On: schlaubus.de. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
- ↑ a b c City without a ticket . The time . November 1997. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ↑ fairkehr magazine 2/2005
- ↑ A future without a ticket . Germany radio . April 19, 2011. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ↑ http://www.mopo.de/nachrichten/hvv-bald-gratis--so-laeuft-es-in-anderen-staedten,5067140,14987352.html
- ^ Ending the Ride Free Area and changing to pay-on-entry. On: kingcounty.gov. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
- ↑ TriMet board kills Portland's Free Rail Zone, raises fares, cuts bus service over protesters' shouts, jeers. The Oregonian . June 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated March 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.mopo.de/nachrichten/hvv-bald-gratis--so-laeuft-es-in-anderen-staedten,5067140,14987352.html
Web links
- Website of the city of Hasselt (German, last accessed April 2, 2012)
- freepublictransports.com - Directory of cities worldwide with initiatives for ticket-free local transport
- Public transport financing
- Local traffic: fare dodging for everyone, 3/98 ( Greenpeace Magazin)
- Happy citizens thanks to free buses , reports and discussions (MP3; 3.2 MB) with the municipal press officer in DRadio Wissen in April 2012 (6:40 min.)
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of free public transport? Are drivers really encouraged to use public transport? (Future mobility from April 4, 2012)