Le Luxembourg should become 2019 the first country in the world to offer free public transport. According to the Luxembourg government, the measure will apply to all trains, buses and trams operating in the Grand Duchy. The new government elected under the leadership of the Prime Minister Xavier Bettel had made this promise earlier in the year, shortly before the election.
According to a mobility survey carried out at the end of last year throughout the Grand Duchy, the use of public transport remains relatively low, representing only 17% for all journeys compared with 69% for car This is despite the fact that Luxembourg keeps its public transport fares relatively low: a journey within the country within two hours costs just €2. A ticket valid for 24 hours on all public transport services costs €4.
The aim of offering free public transport is of course to seriously reduce congestion major roads in the capital and on the country's main access routes. The incredible prosperity of Grand Duchy has seen a significant increase in its population: according to the Luxembourg Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, the number of residents rose by 185,000, the number of jobs by 205,000 and the number of cross-border workers by 125,000 between 1995 and 2017.
The government has set a number of objectives for the2025 horizon The aim is to reduce congestion at peak times - a real problem in Luxembourg City today - while transporting 20 % more people than in 2017. The proportion of home-to-work journeys made by public transport should increase to 22%, while journeys made on foot or by bicycle should generate a quarter of all journeys.
At the same time, the government wants to make public transport more attractive by increasing its reliability. By 2025, the government wants to reduce the rate of train cancellations from 1/40 in 2017 to less than 1/100. It also wants to reduce the proportion of trains delayed by 6 minutes or more by 25 % (compared with 2017) and to ensure that express bus journeys at peak times are much shorter than those made by private car.
This package of measures will cost more than a billion euros a year to the State, which already derives little revenue from the sale of transport tickets in the country, which is estimated to bring in only 30 million euros to the coffers.
Such a measure can only bring good publicity to the country, particularly for visitors who will all benefit from the free public transport offer. Business travellers, many of whom travel to the Luxembourg capital because of its European institutions and financial activities, should appreciate the measure. Especially as the city recently opened its first tramway linewhich, for several months now, has linked the heart of the city to the Lux'Expo exhibition centre. In 2020, the tramway will arrive at the Central Station and in the longer term to theinternational airport de Findel.
