The residents of the French city of Montpellier are getting an extra Christmas present from the city. Free travel on public transport applies to all residents as of Thursday, The Guardian reports.
The free journeys apply to local residents on buses and trams. Tourists in the city in southern France will continue to have to pay 1.6 euros per trip, equivalent to 17.7 Swedish kronor.
It is the city’s mayor, Michael Delafosse, who has now fulfilled his election promise from 2020. The reform has been introduced gradually and started with zero rates on weekends. The financing takes place through the introduction of a new transport tax for companies with more than eleven employees.
In several other places in Europe, free travel has already been introduced in public transport. For example, fees were abolished throughout Luxembourg in 2020, and Tallinn in Estonia introduced zero fees in 2013.