sustainability Article The Effects of the Selective Enlargement of Fare-Free Public Transport Krzysztof Grzelec and Aleksander Jagiełło * Faculty of Economics, University of Gdansk, Armii Krajowej 119/121, 81-824 Sopot, Poland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +48-58-523-1366 Received: 3 July 2020; Accepted: 6 August 2020; Published: 7 August 2020 Abstract: In recent years fare-free public transport (FFPT) found itself at the centre of attention of various groups, such as economists, transport engineers and local authorities, as well as those responsible for the organisation of urban transport. The FFPT is hoped to be the answer to contemporary transport-related problems within cities, problems which largely result from insensible proportions between trips carried out via personal mode of transportation and those completed by the means of public transport. This article reviews the motives and effects connected with the introduction to date of fare-free transport zones across the globe. It also presents, using data obtained in market research, the actual impact of a selective extension of the entitlement to free fares on the demand for urban transport services. The effects observed in other urban transport systems were then compared against those observed in relation to one, examined system. Analyses of observed FFPT implementation effects were then used to establish good and bad practices in the introduction of FFPT. The article also contains forecasts on the effect of the extension of entitlement to free fares and an increase in the public transport offer may have on the volume of demand for such services.