I live in the only country where public transport is free for everyone - AMA

[expatinspace]

I've been wanting to do a thread like this for a while. I live in Luxembourg which is the only country in the world to offer free public transport to anyone, regardless of whether you are a resident or not.

Happy to answer any questions!

DH would be all over this thread . What is the transport system like? Is there an Underground network and more esoteric (to me) things like boats and cable cars, or is it buses, trams, trains?

And why make it free for all, if you know? How long has it been free?

I remember being in shock that the airport bus was 1 euro (a while ago).

Is it good and does it work? Has it resulted in next to no car ownership?

So, trains are free for tourists? Mind blown.

When did public transport become free and has it reduced car use?

We did a brilliant day trip by bus from Luxembourg City taking in both Germany and France (stopping at border towns and catching the next one onwards) all for free. I am envious OP.

Well it’s a tiny country and a tax haven so has a booming economy thanks to all the companies registered there! Super expensive though and most people live across the borders and drive in from what I understand.

That’s not a question but interested to hear your take!

How do you feel about Luxembourg’s status as a tax haven which is used by multinational companies to avoid tax?

So we have buses, trams, trains and electric bikes. You can also park your car for free at one of the park and rides and hop on a bus.

It became free for all in March 2020 as Luxembourgers (as we are known) have more cars per capita than anyone else in the European Union.

Has it eliminated car ownership?

Does the country have a thriving business community paying lots of tax to pay for it?

We do not own a car. This is a great article about car usage

https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2280798.html

If you don't want to click on the link, the article says that car usage has fallen, particularly in the city.

I live in spain where public transport is free for residents and has been for several years. It's meant to encourage people to drive less but I'm not sure that's worked!! It is great, though, and I use it all the time, but buses especially get very busy during tourist season.

Travelling within Spain by plane and ferry is also discounted for residents.

When we first moved here, we had a car for the 1st 6 months and we hardly used it. We live in the city centre and love the free transport, it is very reliable and frequent. Out in the border towns, it can be hit and miss so until that is addressed, car ownership won't fall there.

🙄you do realise that most countries act as tax havens one way or the other, including the UK?

Car dependence is slowly falling but not ownership. It's a small country and everyone frequently travels to Belgium, Germany and France.

@FunnysInLaJardin

Most countries do not operate as tax havens in the same way as Luxembourg. Some do, most don’t, and the UK is not one of them

The latest stats say that 217,000 people commute to Luxembourg for work on a daily basis. This is where free public transport fails because it's not free until they reach the Luxembourg border.

It is super expensive here, rents are high and we do pay a lot of income tax, it is definitely not a tax haven for us. Salaries are much higher than the UK though, for example teachers earn around 80,000 euros a year.

Not really the point of my thread, you're welcome to start your own thread if this is something you feel strongly about.

I did not know this, so thank you for sharing. Luxembourg is small, so as a starting point for other countries, it's interesting to observe. I think though that ownership will remain high, as more and more people are being priced out of the city to live and don't want a long commute.

A few stats and also my observations for anyone interested;

• before it became free, ticket sales from public transport generated around 41 million euros annually, covering approximately 8% of the total yearly costs so the government were already heavily subsiding it
• the operating costs have increased dramatically since it was first introduced in March 2020, €590 million in 2020 to €905 million in 2024.
• cleanliness has declined rapidly, particularly on the buses, the trains are very clean
• in the winter, there are quite a few homeless people riding the buses, presumably to stay warm. The police do remove them, they personally don't bother me unless they're drunk and causing problems.
• If a bus has to stop for any reason, other drivers and Lux Ville workers just appear out to nowhere to help, we don't understand this one 😂
• we do a lot of trips we call '1 stoppers' where we just ride the bus from one stop to the next, had we of had to pay, we would have just walked 😅

As it's AMA , where is worth visiting in Luxembourg for families? Thinking of having a 3-4 night stay. What's the most common language used day to day ?

Please could you tell me more about this - the towns you went to. DD and I want go do something like this one half term.

Personally I don’t think free public transport in Luxembourg has reduced car usage, dreading Monday when the Luxembourg schools go back. I am a cross-border worker. I have a great link to my work and get on the bus one stop before the border and therefore I have to pay for the bus. The park and ride on the German side is 5km from my house so I think it is worth it. I can also use the Deutschland Ticket on my commute so I also have transport within Germany too for 58€ a month. So pleased to see that they have brought the 2 together.
If I need the car during the day I can park it near the airport and because I travel to work more than 1.5km away from the airport I can park for free. But that actually takes longer to get to work than taking the bus.

is there more public transport now - more buses to more places?

any evidence about what it’s doing to fitness?

any rumblings about any tweaks? For eg to dissuade people from 1 stop journeys, or to do some of the stick-not-carrot stuff needed to get people out of cars?

thank you for this thread!

Where do you live in Spain where public transport is free? It's not in Madrid.