Tallinn to have free public transport from 2013

A public referendum held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, supported a plan to make the city's public transport system free of charge. Altogether 68,059 people took part in the referendum, which was just around a fifth of all eligible voters in Tallinn. In the referendum, 75.5 per cent supported and 24.5 per cent were against the idea of free public transport.
March 28, 2012 Read time: 1 min
RSSA public referendum held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, supported a plan to make the city's public transport system free of charge. Altogether 68,059 people took part in the referendum, which was just around a fifth of all eligible voters in Tallinn.

In the referendum, 75.5 per cent supported and 24.5 per cent were against the idea of free public transport.

Edgar Savisaar, mayor of Tallinn, said the result of the referendum was sufficient to begin preparing the plan. He said Tallinn would get free public transport as of 1 January 2013. The city government would bring the plan to the city council in September 2012 and in November it would begin talks with other municipalities on joining the free public transport system.

The opposition Reform Party has accused the city government of populism, saying the city had other urgent issues to address.

Related Content

  • IBTTA Joins transportation secretaries in call for adequate infrastructure funding
    July 24, 2014
    The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has joined US Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary Anthony Foxx and 11 former DOT secretaries in supporting a call for Congress to find consensus on a long-term solution to funding our nation’s infrastructure. Patrick D. Jones, executive director and CEO of IBTTA, echoed the call for long-term action by stating: “The joint letter released yesterday by our nation’s transportation chiefs is a profile in courage and should serve as an
    Read More
  • Co-operative infrastructure reduces congestion, increases safety
    January 30, 2012
    ITS Japan's Chairman Hiroyuki Watanabe talks to ITS International about his country's progress with cooperative infrastructures and how the experience gained to date can benefit similar initiatives elsewhere. Japan gave the rest of the world a taste of the cooperative infrastructure future when, in 1996, it went live with the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS). Designed to provide real-time traffic information and alerts to in-vehicle navigation systems with the dual aims of increasing safe
    Read More
  • Interoperability: towards the new frontier
    October 22, 2018
    After six years of intensive research, testing and negotiation, the US tolling industry is well on its way to groundbreaking results in the effort to establish regional - and eventually national - toll interoperability, says IBTTA’s Bill Cramer. Interoperability has been a high priority on the US tolling industry’s agenda for more than a decade. But several factors made it a uniquely complex issue to resolve - including the number of agencies involved, the significant investments those agencies had already
    Read More
  • Brazil completes US$25bn PAC transport works
    December 19, 2014
    The Brazilian government completed about US$24.5 billion worth of transportation infrastructure projects under the second phase (2011-14) of its growth acceleration plan (PAC). According to the latest PAC report, a total of 5,188kilometres of roadwork has been completed over the last four years, including 1,413 kilometres through concession contracts. Works included widening highway BR-060 in Goiás state; and building the Rio de Janeiro Arco beltway along highway BR-493, highway BR-448 (Rodovia do Par
    Read More

Highlighted Content