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Free Public Transit Suggests That the Ostensibly Radical and Utopian Demand for Fare-Free Transit Is Hardly Radical Or Utopian at All

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spine: .535” Dellheim and Prince, and editorsDellheim Urban Studies · Ecology · Sociology “We don’t pay to ride elevators, do we? And rightly so. The very idea is preposterous. Yet public transit plays the same role in the city as elevators do, only sideways,” argues co-editor Jason Prince. In an age of gridlocked, polluted, and unequal cities, free public transit is a proven solution for making our cities ecological, FREE inclusive, and efficient. In fact, over 100 cities worldwide are already practicing it. In this book, the first of its kind in the world, Montreal urban planner, Jason Prince, and Berlin economic PUBLIC TRANSIT researcher, Judith Dellheim, explore its winning strategies and road blocks in fourteen countries. “For those seeking to secure more sustainable, equitable, and sane cities, this exceptional collection should be cause for celebration. In ways that are profoundly convincing, Free Public Transit suggests that the ostensibly radical and utopian demand for fare-free transit is hardly radical or utopian at all.... Free transit works, [and] it can be won, [so] get on board!” Elevators Ride To Pay Don’t And Why We — Kafui Attoh, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Joseph S. Murphy Institute, City University of New York FREE PUBLIC “At the end of the first month of free train rides, train usage tripled, and after six months it was sevenfold.... Everywhere that it has been implemented, people like it.” —Taavi Aas, Mayor of Tallinn, capital of Estonia, the “free public transit capital of the world” TRANSIT And Why We Don’t Pay To Ride Elevators Montreal · Chicago · London 9 781551 646572 www.blackrosebooks.com Judith Dellheim and Jason Prince, editors FreePublicTransit SoftCover-F.indd 1 2018-06-06 12:56 PM spine: .535” Dellheim and Prince, and editorsDellheim Urban Studies · Ecology · Sociology “We don’t pay to ride elevators, do we? And rightly so. The very idea is preposterous. Yet public transit plays the same role in the city as elevators do, only sideways,” argues co-editor Jason Prince. In an age of gridlocked, polluted, and unequal cities, free public transit is a proven solution for making our cities ecological, FREE inclusive, and efficient. In fact, over 100 cities worldwide are already practicing it. In this book, the first of its kind in the world, Montreal urban planner, Jason Prince, and Berlin economic PUBLIC TRANSIT researcher, Judith Dellheim, explore its winning strategies and road blocks in fourteen countries. “For those seeking to secure more sustainable, equitable, and sane cities, this exceptional collection should be cause for celebration. In ways that are profoundly convincing, Free Public Transit suggests that the ostensibly radical and utopian demand for fare-free transit is hardly radical or utopian at all.... Free transit works, [and] it can be won, [so] get on board!” Elevators Ride To Pay Don’t And Why We — Kafui Attoh, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Joseph S. Murphy Institute, City University of New York FREE PUBLIC “At the end of the first month of free train rides, train usage tripled, and after six months it was sevenfold.... Everywhere that it has been implemented, people like it.” —Taavi Aas, Mayor of Tallinn, capital of Estonia, the “free public transit capital of the world” TRANSIT And Why We Don’t Pay To Ride Elevators Montreal · Chicago · London 9 781551 646572 www.blackrosebooks.com Judith Dellheim and Jason Prince, editors FreePublicTransit SoftCover-F.indd 1 2018-06-06 12:56 PM Praise for Free Public Transit “In a warming world, one of the most important immediate steps we can take to address climate change is free public transit. But it is also about just mobility for all citizens, re-orienting urban planning away from cars, addressing gender and racial equality, and much more. Judith Dellheim and Jason Prince have brought together some of the most important examples from around the world…. There is nothing like it. Read this book on your local bus and insist fellow passengers join the campaign to demand free fares.” ― GREG ALBO, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, York University “[When] the city government [of Tallinn, capital of Estonia] initiated a local referendum on the issue of free rides on the municipal public transit network; 75% said Yes, and 25% said No. Free public transport is definitely a courageous policy but it has also provided a large number of successful examples from cities of different sizes, climatic conditions, cultural backgrounds, and ideological approaches. The universal feature of free public transport is the fact that… everywhere that it has been implemented, people like it.” ― TAAVI AAS, Mayor of Tallinn, capital of Estonia, and the “free public transit capital of the world” “Against the backdrop of austerity, service cuts, and threats of privatization, Free Public Transit asks the seemingly crazy question: ‘Why isn’t public transit free?’ This book compiles both the academic background and the advocacy histories to make a convincing argument―that free transit makes sense and can help remedy the congestion, air pollution, unsustainable petroleum dependence, and climate change caused by our automobile-centered transport system.” ― AARON GOLUB, Director and Associate Professor at the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University “For those seeking to secure more sustainable, equitable, and sane cities, this exceptional collection should be cause for celebration. In ways that are profoundly convincing, Free Public Transit suggests that the ostensibly radical and utopian demand for fare-free transit is hardly radical or utopian at all. Indeed, it is just the opposite… not only is free transit eminently achievable, but the benefits can be profound.… For those who remain skeptical that another city is possible, this collection offers a ray of hope and a much needed message: ‘Free transit works, it can be won, get on board!’” ― KAFUI ATTOH, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, City University of New York “Jason Prince and Judith Dellheim have edited a fine collection of articles making the collective case that it is crucial to return our public transportation to the democratic commons. The book analyses transport not in isolation but as an urban issue embedded in the struggles of class, environment, and for a life based on quality rather than quantity. The contributors come from a variety of geographic and political contexts which enriches and deepens the reader’s understanding of the sheer variety of possibilities and struggles in the global political ecology of transportation-related issues.” ― RICHARD SWIFT, writer, activist, long-time editor with NNew Iew Internationalistnternationalist magazine, and author of SOS: ASOS: Alternatilternativesves to Capitalism “Free Public Transit is an intriguing… snapshot of what a transit system that served the needs of everyone in the city could look like and how it could be realized.” ― T The Mhe Montrontreal Real Review oeview of Bf Books,ooks, Yutaka Dirks FREE PUBLIC TRANSIT And Why We Don’t Pay To Ride Elevators Judith Dellheim and Jason Prince, editors Montreal · Chicago · London www.blackrosebooks.com Free Public Transit by Black Rose Books is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ 2018 • Black Rose Books No. SS390 This publication was made possible with the financial support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA). Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Free public transit : and why we don’t pay to ride elevators / Judith Dellheim, Jason Prince, editors. —2nd edition. Previous edition published under title: Free public transport. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55164-659-6 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-55164-657-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-55164-661-9 (eBook) 1. Transportation. I. Dellheim, Judith, editor II. Prince, Jason, 1965-, editor HE151.F74 2018 388 C2018-901755-4 C2018-901756-2 Cover design: Em Dash Design. Cover photo: Marvin Latortue C.P. 9;=>> Succ. Léo Pariseau Montréal, QC H8X 6A: CANADA www.blackrosebooks.com ORDERING INFORMATION: USA/INTERNATIONAL CANADA UK/EUROPE University of Chicago Press University of Toronto Press Central Books Chicago Distribution Center ;867 Dufferin Street Freshwater Road 77696 South Langley Avenue Toronto, ON Dagenham Chicago IL <6<8> M9H ;T> RM> 7RX (>66) <87-8=9< (USA) 7->66-;<;-?;89 +:: (6) 86 >;8 >>66 (==9) =68-=666 (International) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Black Rose Books is the publishing project of Cercle Noir et Rouge. Contents Acknowledgements vii ix Introduction to the Second Edition xi Introduction to the First Edition xiii 1. Free Public Transit: Scope and Definitions 1 Wojciech Kębłowski 2. The Transport Spectrum and Vectors of Change 7 Jan Scheurer 3. The Political Economy of Transport 17 Judith Dellheim 4. Bologna’s Traffic Policy: “Free fares were just the 29 beginning” Max Jäggi 5. Learning from Red Bologna 45 Maurizio Tira and Michelle DeRobertis 6. Jamming Fare Boxes in Montreal 57 Jason Prince 7. Belgium: Ending the Car Siege in Hasselt 81 Michael Brie 8. Tallinn: Estonia Leads the Way with Free Public 89 Transit Allan Alaküla 9. Poland: Take Your Potted Plant to Town 95 Łukasz Ługowski 10. France: A “New May 1968” in Aubagne? 103 Wojciech Kębłowski 11. Sweden: Jumping Turnstiles with Planka.nu 111 Anna Nygård 12. Toronto: Challenging the Impossible 127 Herman Rosenfeld 13. The US: Seeking Transit Justice from Seattle to NYC 137 Rosalie Ray 14. Germany: Europe’s “Car Country” is Turning on its 151 Head Judith Dellheim 15. Greece: Automobiles or Public Transport? 169 Georgios Daremas 16. Brazil: From Dream to Nightmare 185 Paula Aftimus and Daniel Santini 17.
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