Luxembourg becomes first country with free public transport
MANILA, Philippines — Luxembourg is set to become the first country to offer a public transportation system completely free of charge as part of a government bid to reduce road congestion.
Although other countries have adopted similar measures, Luxembourg's transport ministry says that this case was the first in the world that this had been implemented for an entire country.
Flagged by the ministry as "an important social measure", the move to completely subsidize public transportation is projected to affect some 40% of households and is estimated to save each one around 100 euros or $110 per year.
According to reports, private cars are the most used means of transport in the country, accounting for 47% of business travel and 71% of leisure transport.
Too many cars
This statistic mirrors that of commuters closer to home where traffic congestion is one of the biggest problems plaguing Filipinos each day, so much so that the groups in the labor sector in October tagged it as a mass transportation crisis.
READ: Mass transport in Philippines is in crisis — BAYAN
Malacañang has disputed the claims of a crisis and said commuters can leave earlier to reach their destinations on time, a measure that many had already been doing.
That the public transport system leaves much to be desired is a sentiment that has been echoed through the years in the Philippine capital.
Urban planning specialists have said the lack in mass transportation drives the sale of cars up and ultimately worsens the traffic congestion problem the capital faces.
A 2016 study by the Department of Transportation echoed this sentiment, saying that “Metro Manila has adopted a car-focused urban design approach [as the] increasing private vehicle ownership challenges the status quo of the public transport system in the Philippines significantly.”
Indexes, like that of navigation app Waze, count Metro Manila—an area covering 16 cities and a municipality—as among the world's worst cities to drive in.
READ: Metro Manila worst to drive in, according to Waze ranking
The government has highlighted ongoing road projects that it believes will help reduce travel time around Metro Manila. On January 17, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said that P384 billion has been funelled into road infrastructure projects as part of the government's "Build, Build, Build" program. These, he said, are seen to improve the traffic situation by the second half of 2020.
"What we should be doing in the short run is to find ways to attract people away from using private cars and getting more of them use public transport," public transport and mobility advocate Robert Siy told Philstar.com in an earlier interview.
"If people feel that I can move faster using public transport, then more people will leave their cars at home. That's the attitude you want people to have: If I used public transport, I would be home already much earlier." — with report from Agence France-Presse
- Latest
- Trending
