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Transportation

Luxembourg Wants to Solve Congestion With Free Public Transport (popupcity.net) 83

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Starting in March 2020, public transport in Luxembourg will be free of charge. Primarily a social measure, this policy will also be implemented to decrease congestion in the capital region. From a report: Luxembourg's public transportation system is already heavily subsidized as fares in the country are as low as $2.2 per two hours. Even so, the country has the highest car ownership per person in Europe. This is mainly because citizens and out-of-country commuters argue that Luxembourg's public transportation is more time consuming compared to driving. Additionally, its unique position between France, Belgium, and Germany, draws lots of commuters across its borders every day. Therefore, the investment and legislation for free public transportation will be complemented by improving the country's network, but also for raising the minimum wage, pension adjustments, and financial aid for higher education. For out-of-country commuters, a parallel policy will allow workers to deduct travel expenses from their annual tax bill. However, many citizens argue that the money spent on free transportation and modernising the system can be better spent on rent subsidies or social housing.
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Luxembourg Wants to Solve Congestion With Free Public Transport More

Luxembourg Wants to Solve Congestion With Free Public Transport

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  • Awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Friday February 07, 2020 @05:04PM (#59702730)
    I live in one of the few towns in the US that also have free public transit. It's great. People love it. It attracts a lot of people to the area as a result of it.

    Unfortunately, our family works in different states, so because the US doesn't have any good regional mass transit, we're in the process of moving to Europe.

  • Price isn't the problem (Score:3)

    by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Friday February 07, 2020 @05:13PM (#59702758) Journal
    In my experience, price isn't the problem with public transportation. It's quality. Services are too infrequent, and too slow. Time is money. Once you factor in time, taking public transportation doesn't make sense in many cases.

    I know there are some cases where this isn't true. London underground is one example. But in most places, particularly in the US. That is the case.

    Also, clean the urine off of the seats!
    • My thought too, instead of lowering the price of crap how about upping the prices and use the extra income to improve the service. It's not as if most of the riders in Luxembourg are hurting for cash.
      • Instead of offering free rides, charge money but offer great service. It will probably run a deficit. However, I think once people become accustomed to good, reliable public transport, ridership will increase, and it might break even long term.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jonwil ( 467024 )

      I have used public transport in a number of Australian cities and its nowhere near as bad as the US. Its not as good as London but lumping Australia in with the US when it comes to "bad public transport" is wrong.

    • You don't have to stop all driving to solve congestion. You don't have to reduce it the whole day either. Just make public transit free during the prime commute hours, with extra trains/buses during those hours. Perhaps 50% of commuters will have a commute that they'd rather do for free on a train/bus than drive even though it probably takes a bit longer, compared to 10% who'd take public transit if it costs the same as driving. You've just made a 40% reduction in rush hour traffic, which is so huge that yo

    • That is exactly what I thought. The solution to inconvenient public transport is not free public transport, but excellent quality public transport. The goal of public transport should be to approach the functionality of a teleport - it should transport people anywhere, on demand and in time approaching 0 seconds. It has to be like taking a horizontal elevator - you come to the stop, select the destination and presto - doors open and in 15 minutes is you are wherever you want in the city. Nobody is going t

      • Part of the problem with Luxembourg is that much of the traffic comes from commuters who live in other countries. Since public transport across country borders is already a bit of a pain (even in the Shengen area). It is these out-of-country commuters who are complaining about the public transport. Elsewhere in Europe public transportation is good.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Corbets ( 169101 )

        But as the summary says, they also plan to invest in improving the public transport.

        My sister in law and her fiancée live there. They have very long commutes to work, but as they can’t afford a car anyway, they’re excited about the free transport. For me, I’m hoping they improve the routes so they don’t spend as much time on the bus...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by iamacat ( 583406 )

          but as they canâ(TM)t afford a car anyway, theyâ(TM)re excited about the free transport

          Well, did they ever think about the correlation?

    • Re:Price isn't the problem (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Friday February 07, 2020 @08:42PM (#59703388)

      You probably shouldn't be comparing first world public services to those substandard offerings from the US. In most parts of Europe the public transportation is high quality, affordable, and clean.

    • It is not an instant success for all people in all places, no.

      But it has a huge very real impact on the real estate value in some areas. Consider the 16th street mall in downtown Denver. Free and frequent (~6 minute avg wait?) shuttle service makes three miles of downtown into a very convenient supermall. If you can get to any location in the area by car or whatever, now all those stores and apartments and hotels are a convenient bus/walk away.

      At a certain level of activity/congestion, adding a little ca

    • Maybe BART should add a first-class section.

      First-class, in this case, meaning no urine on the seats.

    • The experiences are not comparable.

      Luxemburg is somewhat behind, sadly. Too low frequency. Too much reliance on buses, too. Their first tram line is brand-new.

      (Although to be fair, the main city isn't exactly a subway-building-friendly terrain. We got a canyon right though the city. Wrapped around its core like a sling. Makes for a great view though. Also, we have ex-military caves in there with lots of skeletons, and nobody wants to dig through them. Finally, we're rich, so everbody has a car. For perspect

  • US Expat living in Lux right now (Score:5, Informative)

    by ljfrench ( 110495 ) <ljfrench&torrentdefense,com> on Friday February 07, 2020 @05:24PM (#59702812) Homepage

    I'm engaged to an EU citizen and working on my Lux residency right now. By EU standards, the transport system is "ok" but by US standards, this place is great. My biggest concerns are that the trains are already pretty full at rush hour and I don't know of any plans to run more carriages until a year or more from this "free transport" change.

    But I also hear complaints about driving around here. Rush hour is also congested just like anywhere else that I know. I've experienced little traffic myself as I don't have to drive much because the bus and train transport are pretty reliable. They also have a couple car share programs which help when I need a short-term car rental. But I haven't needed a car more than a handful of times.

    The county is basically always under construction, like literally 25% or more. They are extending the light-rail tram from it's current route in the NE of Lux city to include the airport and the central train station. That will certainly help.

    I'm sure there will be hiccups but I applaud their leadership for looking for ways to make things better even if the implementation isn't as fast as we'd like.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Corbets ( 169101 )

      But I also hear complaints

      They’re pseudo-French, man. Complaining is what they do.

      • The only reason Luxemburg, didnât become part of Germany back then, like everyone else, was because it already was a tax haven. :D

        We are a Germanic peoples.
        We speak Moselle-Frankish.

        Us using French too, are the remains of us hating German due to Hiter invading is and forcing us to use only German.
        But we're over that since the 80s.
        Nowadays, only two groups are wannabe French:
        1. Those who see themselves as the highest upper class. (Aka pathetic snobs that nobody likes.)
        2. A large part of the 50% immigran

  • NOT "free" (Score:1, Troll)

    by Cpt_Kirks ( 37296 )

    Somebody has to pay for it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      The EU pays for these boondoggles. Luxembourg gets a ton of subsidy even though they are a very small country and being a tax haven with little financial regulation, they have a lot of wealthy people living there. And being wealthy people, almost nobody needs or wants to use public transportation, who cares if you have to wait in traffic, you're not driving either way.

      • Is Luxembourg a maker or a taker? I know only 4-5 countries in the EU pay for the rest of them. And the UK just left.

      • The EU pays for these boondoggles.

        It does not. The EU does not at all fund the operation of public transport. It only funds initial construction and only in some circumstances (helped a lot if that construction happens to cross borders).

      • being a tax haven with little financial regulation,

        From a financial regulation point of view, while the CSSF (Luxembourg) is not as strict as BaFin (Germany)... I've filed for and supported financial licenses in the UK (EMI license from the FCA) and in Luxembourg (PI and EMI licenses from the CSSF). Getting a financial license in the UK is a walk in the park, the FCA did not ask many questions and didn't even seem that interested in how we were planning to support the activities of the financial institution. A Payment Institution license has the lowest leve

    • Re:NOT "free" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Phillip2 ( 203612 ) on Friday February 07, 2020 @05:58PM (#59702908)

      Is there any use of the word "free" that you cannot apply "somebody has to pay for it" to?

      Free School Places
      Free Beer
      Free Water
      Free Hugs

      All you are really saying is that is that, as a society we have become pointless obsessed with finance to the point that we, if we choose to be so facile, attach a momentary value to almost anything, and then claim that someone is paying for it.

      Someone has to pay for the congestion as well.
      Someone also has to pay for damage caused the pollution.
      Someone also have to pay for the destruction of the environment.

      • ... somebody has to pay ...

        I fail to see how free hugs causes congestion, pollution or environmental damage. It's difficult to think of any cost, unless it's realizing her intimacy doesn't upgrade to free sex. (Listerine, condoms and lubricant aren't cost-free, as well.)

        ... attach a momentary value ...

        Beer isn't lying in the street: Someone used time, materials and innovation to make it. Time and innovation are valuable, and since beer-manufacturing materials aren't lying in the street either, someone made those, incurring another cost of time, materials and in

      • Some of these people probably show up grumbling when they go to parties. I think they just don't see the big picture; they complain about things that they notice where there may be taxes paid, but they utterly ignore all the stuff that they are taking advantages that depend upon either taxes, regulations, etc (roads, an educated workforce, clean water). I'd really hate to see the utopia that the anti-every-tax-possible people would create given the chance.

    • Yeah, correct, Mr. Nitpicker.
      We're social people. Al least outside of.our huge banking / tax haven sector.
      We share the cost. It saves money. Aka more wealth for everybody.

      We're proud of that. Because we succeed with it. If you win with your Romulan-Ferrengi culture, you can call us stupid. Deal?

  • Guy from Luxembourg here (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Friday February 07, 2020 @08:33PM (#59703374)

    Absolutely nobody here claims that it will solve congestion.

    The trains are at full capacity already and new lines need still a few years to finish.

    The ticket vendors, the vending machines, the controls, the money transport, the software, the upper management controlling the lower management etc cost more than the revenue of the ticket sales brings.

    Nobody will get sacked. So it's a win-win for everybody.

    Disclaimer: I worked for the railway for 40 years.

    • Additionally, the ticket prices were already heavily subsidized by the state... the incremental cost is negligible compared to the cost of collecting the ticket sales. I used to live in Trier and commuted to Luxembourg by public transport (Line 118). The bus fare inside Trier (my suburb to the city center, 10 minutes ride) was more expensive that the Trier-Luxembourg fare (1 hour, cross-border).

      • "Additionally, the ticket prices were already heavily subsidized by the state... the incremental cost is negligible compared to the cost of collecting the ticket sales. "

        Exactly, it's just not worth the hustle. That stuff was OK 50-60 years ago when the manpower cost was cheaper relative to the ticket price, but that has changed long ago.

        Additionally no bus driver will ever get mugged again.

    • Moien. Ech sin aus Sandweiler. An et as eng Fro! Keng Fra! :D
      [Secret Luxemburgish identification code, err, I mean, gibberish.]

      This is not about long distance travel.

      This is about the buses and that one silly tram. :D

      And last time I checked, Luxemburg city was quite congested, and buses were quite empty. (<25% of seats used on median. Rurally, even less.)

      I think you are quite out of touch.

      • This is not about long distance travel.

        I think you've never tried driving on the A3, A4 or A6 towards the city between 7am and 9am :) It shouldn't be possible to exit the highway, fill your car up, buy donuts and a coffee at Donkin Donuts, then climb back on the highway and end up 3 cars ahead of where you were.

        And last time I checked, Luxemburg city was quite congested, and buses were quite empty.

        And most of the city looks like a ghost town at night, but Hamelius to Place de l'Etoile can take over 45 minutes at 1:30pm with a car... for non-locals that's barely a 10 minutes leisurely stroll. It's all about peak time congestion. Mos

  • Derp! Beats the f outa Merican system thats eats poor people's wages to enrich the.. you figure it out.

  • PLEASE stop calling us "Luxembourg". (Score:3)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Saturday February 08, 2020 @05:48AM (#59704514)

    Unless you are French.

    Our country's name, for Germanic languages, is "Luxemburg".

    The reason our government defaults to French is because French became the lingua franca here after WWII, when German became unpopular. But we're over that since the 80s now!
    Luxemburgish is a Germanic language too, and preferring French makes no sense because before that, Napoleon invaded us too, making French unpopular.

    So Americans saying "Luxembourg" makes as little sense as if Germans would call the USA "Etats-Unis".
    Just call it Luxemburg please, no matter what our government says.

    (Why the hell do we not just call each country by its native name, by the way? Nippon, Deutschland, Lëtzebuerg and Suomi are perfectly pronouncable names, and we don't go around calling people by our language's version of that name either, do we?)

    • Greece is even better, because it doesn't even have anything to do with the country itself. It's just the name the Romans had for the region where it's at.

  • There is no such thing as "free" or "government funded" anything.

  • But somehow it might provide enough buses.

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