Free public transport is a key issue in this month’s local elections in France. Nearly 3 million people have access to it now, and that number is expected to go up – despite opposition to the principle from national government.
“Numerous” proposals by Mayoral candidates to make public transport free, partially or completely, were listed by Le Monde newspaper.
In Brest, Cécile Beaudouin of France Unbowed (La France Insoumise, a left wing party) has committed to free public transport for all. In Lyon, Jean-Michel Aulas of the centre-right promises free for those earning less than €2500 a month.
Candidates in Nice, St Étienne, Aix-Marseille and Toulouse promise free transport for the youngest and oldest citizens, or at weekends, similar to schemes already common in the UK.
And in Montpellier, the largest French city to have made public transport free, all the candidates except one independent have pledged to retain the popular scheme.
This month’s elections will decide who France’s 34,875 mayors – from the mayor of Paris to heads of small rural villages with a few dozen inhabitants – will be. The first round of voting took place on Sunday (15 March), and where no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, there will be a second round next Sunday (22 March).
The expansion of free public transport is “the culmination of a long process during which the share paid by the urban transport user has been whittled down to almost nothing”, Le Monde reported.
A report by the national Audit Chamber, published in September last year, showed that in 2019, just 33% of public transport operating costs was covered by fares, down from 71% in 1977. That national figure excluded the Île-de-France region including Paris, where fares cover 45% of operating costs – still far lower than in London, where it is more than 60%.[1]
Arnaud Passalacqua, professor of urban planning and co-chair of the scientific committee of the Observatory of Free-Transport Cities, says: “The wall that still has to be scaled [to reach full free transport] is no longer very high”.
Public transport funding started to shift in the 1970s with the introduction of the transport levy (versement transport), now called the mobility levy (versement mobilité). This is collected by local government from the payroll of businesses with more than 11 employees, and enabled urban transport systems to spread outside of city centres.
In the UK, campaign groups aim to put free public transport at the centre of campaigning for elections on 7 May, to local councils and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
A group of councillors and prospective candidates has pledged “to use our platforms to call for the extension of free public transport, which addresses social injustice, and can help tackle climate change and air pollution”.
The group recognises that “funding models would have to change, in line with a public service approach”, and commits to “exploring how this can be done, including learning from international models”.
The 115 signatories of the pledge so far are standing for election in eight local authorities in Yorkshire, 11 London boroughs, and councils in the north-west, north Wales, Cambridgeshire, Kent and Suffolk. They include councillors representing the Green party, Labour party, Your Party, Nottingham Socialist Alliance, Green Socialist Alliance, Independent Socialists and independents.
The initiative is supported by Fare Free London, Fare Free Yorkshire, Better Buses for West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire Needs a Tram, Tipping Point UK and the Greener Jobs Alliance.
Please ask your candidates to sign the pledge here.
In France, whatever the outcome of the local elections, towns who introduce free public transport will have to stand their ground against national government, which attacks it as a burden on budgets.
A framework law on transport infrastructure funding, due before the Senate in April, includes a measure for automatically indexing passenger fares to inflation.
Towns and cities will retain the power to opt out, in keeping with the principle of local authority autonomy, but the government hopes to use the law to “check the dynamic” towards free transport, Le Monde reported.
France’s audit chamber (Cour des comptes), which monitors public finances, has also taken pot-shots at free public transport, on the basis of neo-liberal economic principles. In its report in September last year it claimed that arguments that might justify reducing fares such as user expectations, environmental effects, social stakes are “largely unfounded”.
It even advises the state to penalise the boldest authorities by making central grants conditional on user contributions, Le Monde Diplomatique reported.
The Union for Free and Developed Public Transport, which campaigns for the zero-fares principle, hit back at the audit chamber, saying that all costs – including social costs and the costs of air pollution and climate change – had to be taken into account.
Here is the union’s statement, in full:
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The Union for Free and Developed Public Transport (UGDT) calls for refocusing the public debate on clear priorities: it is not the cost of free transit that is holding back the ecological transition, but the glaring inadequacy of public transport supply.
In a context where our climate commitments demand a massive modal shift towards sustainable mobility, investing in a genuine supply shock is imperative. Without it, meeting the targets set by the Paris Agreement (COP21) will be impossible.
When You Count, Count Everything: The Cost of Inaction Is Colossal
Focusing solely on the cost of free public transit (estimated at €10 billion per year in France) means ignoring far greater costs caused by inaction. Key figures for France:
- Air pollution: €100 billion per year.
- Road accidents: €50 billion per year.
- Traffic congestion in major cities: nearly €20 billion per year.
- Climate disruption: climate disasters (heatwaves, wildfires, floods, etc.) cost France €10 billion in 2025 and could reach €30–50 billion per year in the medium term.
Against these figures, the cost of free transit is marginal. Fixating on ticket prices means ignoring the major health, environmental, and economic benefits of a public transport system that is truly accessible to all.
Free Transit and Public Transport Development: A Social and Ecological Solution
To change behaviours, credible alternatives to the private car must be offered: a dense, frequent, reliable, and fast network, coupled with intelligent regulation of car use (parking policies, traffic-calmed zones, etc.).
The Benefits of Free Transit: A Social and Ecological Accelerator
Removing the price barrier means:
- Eliminating non-take-up of social tariffs, which still prevents many people from regularly
accessing public transport.
- Facilitating access to employment, healthcare, education, and culture.
- Guaranteeing a fundamental right: mobility for all, without discrimination.
Every experiment conducted in France demonstrates this: free transit, combined with a massive expansion of supply, drives a significant modal shift. In Dunkirk, for example, public transport ridership doubled in two years. In Montpellier, it rose by 30% in a single year. Increasing public transport use directly contributes to reducing air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, road accidents, and congestion, while cutting dependence on fossil fuels and rare metals.
The Real Question: How to Sustainably Finance an Ambitious Public Transport System?
Today, users already finance less than a quarter of the total cost of public transport. The remainder is covered by employers (via the Mobility Levy) and local authorities. It is therefore fair for free transit to be extended and collectively funded, just like essential public services such as healthcare or education.
That said, the main challenge is not “who pays for free transit?”, but how to fund a massive expansion of the public transport network:
- Investing in rolling stock, increasing frequency, recruiting staff, and improving service quality.
- Connecting rural and peri-urban areas to ensure equitable access to mobility.
Our Proposals: A Clear Course to Meet COP21 Commitments
- A Massive Supply Shock
- Development of trams, high-frequency bus services (BHNS), metropolitan RER lines, and dedicated bus lanes.
- Strengthening intermodality: park-and-ride facilities, cycling infrastructure, train/metro/shuttle connections.
- Improving frequency, commercial speed, and passenger comfort.
- Connecting rural and peri-urban areas.
- Clear Price Signals on Car Use
- Reform of parking and pricing policies.
- Creation of traffic-calmed zones and development of infrastructure for soft mobility (cycle paths, pedestrian zones, etc.).
- A Right to Mobility for Everyone
- Progressive rollout of full free transit, starting with targeted measures: free travel at weekends, for young people, seniors, etc.
- Removal of administrative barriers linked to social fares to ensure universal access to public transport.
- Dedicated, Sustainable Funding
- Raising the Mobility Levy cap (from 2% to 3.2%, as in Île-de-France) with an additional 0.5%
for authorities introducing free transit.
- Better coordination of funding across employment catchment areas, metropolitan areas, and rural/peri-urban zones.
- Capturing land value uplift generated around new transport lines.
- Enhanced tourist tax in visitor cities to contribute to infrastructure funding.
Conclusion: Act Today for a Sustainable Future
Free public transit, when accompanied by a massive expansion of supply, is a powerful tool for addressing the climate, social, and economic challenges of our time. The Union for Free and Developed Public Transport (UGDT) calls for a genuine turning point and invites decision-makers to move beyond sterile debates and build a fairer and more sustainable future.
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UGDT-banner
Caption: The Union for Free and Developed Transport banner at a demonstration in Rouen, October 2025
Photo from here
[1] In 2024-25, TfL reported that passenger fares were the main source of income, £5.7 billion out of £7 billion. Gross expenditure was £9.4 billion. See annual report, pages 70 and 146
