Editor’s Note: Since July 1, most counties in Estonia launched free bus services for residents. In Tallinn, the city’s buses, trams, trolleybuses and trains have been fare-free for city residents since 2013. The measure aims to support people with lower incomes, but it is also intended to have an environmental impact, encouraging people to stop using private cars and switch to public transport. But could the same be done in Ukraine?
Oleksii Maliushytskiy
Photographer
“I own a car, but free public transport would be great. I hope we can do it. If they can do it in other countries, if they can live this way, it is possible. But hope is not enough – action is needed to achieve each goal. Increasing salaries led to increased transport prices. I think some people are trying to inflate prices in order to get more profit. It’s not legal.”
Natalia Hrytsai
Travel agent
“Although I support it, I think that it is not realistic to be able to do this in Ukraine.”
Vitalia Derebina
Program manager
“I think it’s not a realistic proposal. In any case, someone has to pay for it. And we have to consider also the salary of the drivers of public transport. The government budget comes from taxing people, so the government would have to increase taxes. I don’t know how they manage it in Tallin, but of course they considered the costs and found it possible. As well as free medical insurance and free education, it is also possible to provide free public transport. But I think we will have to pay more tax in any case –nothing is free.”
Ihor Komendant
Entrepreneur
“No one lives for free. Maybe Estonia has extra money and they don’t know how to spend it. But we don’t have (extra money), and I think in the next 30-50 years we will not be rich enough to make public transport free of charge. You can’t see such a system in Germany, England, France, or the United States. It may be possible for some countries, but if you have the population of 40 million it’s not realistic.”
Vasyl Symokha
Locksmith
“The economic situation in Ukraine is not good enough for it now. But in the future maybe it will be possible. But I don’t think that it can benefit to environment and decrease traffic. Public transport at the moment is not free but very cheap compared to private cars. However, people are not giving up using their cars because it is comfortable. So it is difficult to discourage people from using cars. But if they could do it, it would be a great project.”
Bohdan Khomiak
Investment consultant
“The problem is very simple: if the government provides subsidies for that, it is possible. But people do not want to pay tax, so the government will not pay subsidies. Thirty percent of the people already use transport for free. On the other hand, a metro ticket is very cheap in Ukraine. It’s just a joke. In what other country can you find such cheap prices? Only people on the minimum wage who use the metro twice a day can complain about transport costs.”
