Dunkirk (France) is setting a new standard for free public transport

Categories:

• Environment

by Marc Prats

Posted on November 5, 2018

Dunkirk is the biggest European city to offer public transport completely for free, for everybody and every single day of the year. 

Some big cities, such as Barcelona or Madrid, limit the amount and the type of cars that can drive through their streets during certain times of the year when the air quality is low. However useful that system is for the environment, it forces people to purchase a public transport ticket (at a reduced price) and to spend a long journey in a crammed bus or train. 

What if we said to all those people who leave their cars at home that the public transport could be free on those days when they are not allowed to drive? Or even better, why don’t we tell them that they won’t even have to pay anything for the transport, ever again? 

Councils applying similar policies are being praised for their impact on the environment but Dunkirk is going to the next level. They are setting the right path for other major European cities to fight climate change, and we would love to see how this is applied all over the world in order to reduce the amount of pollution found in the atmosphere.

Mainly-industrial countries like China or India would benefit from this change as the amount of traffic found in big capitals make it unhealthy to breathe without a face mask on, and make traffic jams a recurrent routine.

Would you consider parking your car and using fee free public transport? Do you trust public transport enough to take you to your destination? 

Let us know what you think in the comments below.