The PSD-PNL candidate for the Mayor of Bucharest, Dr. Cătălin Cîrstoiu, had a discussion on Thursday about public transportation in Bucharest with the president of the STB (Bucharest Transport Company) union, Vasile Petrariu.
One of the „valuable” ideas that the candidate remains with is that of free public transportation on „green Fridays.”
Cîrstoiu is only in 3rd place in the polls and has little chance of becoming mayor, but the idea itself is worth considering.
Bucharest could follow the example of another city, Montpellier, in southern France, which has had free local public transportation since December 2023. The project there costs 30 million euros annually and is funded through a mobility tax applied to companies; specifically a 2% salary tax, mandatory for companies with over 11 employees.
The same reform has already been implemented in Luxembourg and Tallinn.
However, all of them are much smaller cities than Bucharest.
Moreover, STB is already operating at a loss and wouldn't be able to survive without funding from the City Hall of Bucharest.
The Mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, stated last year that currently The City Hall collects 20-25 million lei per month from STB tickets and subscriptions, but provides a subsidy of 120 million lei to STB.
Furthermore, the candidate Cîrstoiu is right in saying that the STB network "must become fast, safe, and comfortable to convince people to leave their cars at home." Unfortunately, it is far from that now, even with the investments made in recent years, when the City Hall of Bucharest bought modern buses and trams. Summer is coming, and we all think about the lack of air conditioning in most STB vehicles.
Additionally, the tram infrastructure throughout Bucharest needs to be rebuilt because there isn't a week without a tram derailing.
The coalition candidate also mentions the need to streamline certain roads with alternative traffic lanes, but this is also very difficult to achieve. Details can be found in the article Nicușor Dan has created a third of the current single lanes in Bucharest. Why not more and faster.
Meanwhile, today, in Bucharest: Dozens of people got off the tram to push an illegally parked car (Video)