In my city, São Paulo, the situation is so severe that the air is noticeable. And take my word for it. You don’t want to look at the air you breathe. We are facing drought and abnormally high temperatures.
cycle
Pollution from mixed vehicles smoke from fireThe climate emergency occurred during September. The air quality index, measured by sensors installed throughout the city, was rated ‘very poor’ for the first time since 1996.
At the same time that the number of cars increased, public transportation lost passengers. This is not just a Brazilian problem. Public transport networks around the world are facing a crisis.
In England, a comparison of transport use from September 2023 to September 2024 to pre-Covid-19 levels shows that the only mode of transport to have fully recovered is the car. Bus, train and public transport (mainly tube) travel in London remains below pre-2019 levels. official government data.
In Brazil, public transportation networks in major cities were already shrinking even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In just 10 years, public transport has lost a third of its passengers. In São Paulo, buses transported passengers for 3 billion trips in 2013. Ten years later that number was down to 2 billion.
The pandemic has exacerbated an already existing crisis. In most cities in Brazil, transportation costs are subsidized through ticket sales. The decline in passenger numbers led to a cycle of decline. Less ridership, less revenue, fewer buses and/or higher fares. The model has become unfeasible.
startle
The failure of this method opened the way for cities to explore other approaches to funding their systems, including free public transit.
The number of cities offering free public transportation has increased significantly in recent years, especially in the past year. There are currently 116 municipalities that offer completely free public transport, financed primarily from the city’s own budget. More than 5 million people benefit.
Today, most cities with free public transportation are concentrated in the southeastern states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Many local authorities take inspiration from nearby cities, which has a contagious effect.
There was a lot of public support in cities that adopted this system. The suspension of fees was also accompanied by system improvements. Some cities have electrified their buses. Profit can be predicted regardless of the number of passengers, making investment and planning advantageous.
Researchers are trying to understand the environmental impact of free public transportation. Preliminary data from São Caetano do Sul (SP), the largest city in the São Paulo metropolitan area with completely free transport, shows that the abolition of fares has contributed to reducing traffic volumes and emissions. The city has 165,000 residents and is one of the cities that began electrifying its buses after fares were abolished.
precarious
A new alliance based on an ecological perspective to strengthen public transport DiscussingOne of the main references is movement. #wirfahrenzusammenWe brought together young German environmentalists and trade unionists. climate strike.
Along with the environmental perspective, the social perspective may be one of the most important in this debate.
The fare suspension reveals suppressed demand. Thousands of people around the world are unable to move due to transport costs. In Brazil, cities that have adopted fully free public transportation have seen ridership double, triple, and even quadruple!
This means that adopting this policy would require the government to not only fully subsidize but also secure funds to expand the system.
there is How to finance sustainable travel improvements. This may not be easy, but it is particularly interesting because it overturns the logic of austerity, which is directly linked to the decline in quality and instability of many transport networks.
inequality
Who says public transportation has to be profitable? When doing the math, we need to take into account the ecological cost of too many people driving.
If governments are prioritizing automotive resources and infrastructure, why is no one asking about the costs? Here we need to consider not only the cost of building this infrastructure, but also the cost of maintaining it.
Some people say free public transportation isn’t worth it from an environmental standpoint. Because people will give up non-motorized mobility to use public transportation.
But do we want people to bike and walk because we have great infrastructure, including bike paths and walkable neighborhoods, or because we don’t have the money or the choice?
Increased transportation use due to fare abolition mainly in poor areas. This legislation has enormous potential to reduce social inequality and guarantee the right to the city for the poorest people. And this may be the key to creating cities that are more pleasant for future generations to live in, with less inequality and less pollution.
Author Lee
Daniel Santini is a journalist, holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Studies from the University of São Paulo, and is researching free public transport policies for his PhD. His book in September No revolving doors: From utopia to the reality of free public transportation (Sem Catraca: Utopia and Verdad of Tarifa Zero) Published. It hasn’t been translated into English yet. He works as a project manager at the São Paulo Office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
There is an international research network on free public transport. Data on the number of cases by country is part of an international report. inspection Carried out by Wojciech Kębłowski, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
