The country where all public transit is free
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- Опубликовано: 23 фев 2020
- From March 1st 2020, Luxembourg will have free public transit throughout the country: you'll be able to travel on buses, trains, trams, and that one funicular railway without a ticket. It sounds like a good idea: but is it?
Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
Thanks to Leonard French at Lawful Masses for holding the camera out on the Casemates: / @lawfulmasses
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This is why I was unexpectedly passing through Schengen a few weeks back!
Very nice
Second
ok
3 days ago??? Is youtube on crack???
@@golaco237 unlisted video
This guy speaks English, but his German accent has a French accent. It's really fascinating to listen to him.
Agreed, as a german I also like this peculiar accent!
Well they speak 3 languages in Luxembourg:
French, German and Luxembourgish. I believe Luxembourgish is a lot like German and French (correct me if I'm wrong)
@@mananasi_ananas Luxembourgish is close to German (same structure/syntax etc, basically a dialect), but with hundreds of French words mixed into it
Luxembourgish is a really fun language!
Tom sounds fairly British to me.
A free train being cancelled and being late for work is slightly better than the one that I have paid for being cancelled and me be late for work
Yes but 4€ doesnt matter that much.
4€ vs free but unreliable makes no difference for me.
I need to know that I get where I need to be when I need to be there. The Luxembourg transport is way to unreliable to use even if free.
@@Burnthesof While true for you, as Tom pointed out, there are people for whom that 4€ might mean the difference between eating lunch that day or not. Ideally everyone would be in a position to think 4€ was an insignificant burden, but until we can fix that part of society, removing that burden from those people is a good thing.
@@Burnthesof If its free and bad that is what I expect, when I have to pay for it and it just as bad that is much worse. Given the state of public transport in the UK, I would not complain about it if it was free, the fact it is as bad as it is given what I have to pay that is a reason to complain
@@johnperic6860 actually we just got a national 2,5% pay rise, on tax rise is on petrol/diesel
it amazes me how other countries have this kind of public transport, in my country, there is not even a national train system and the public transport can take 2 to 3 hours in a trip than in comparison takes 20 - 30 minutes walking
“Okay” in European standards is “incredible” in American. Those trains look clean and they look like they don’t smell of piss. I’m jealous
I'd say it's a more negative statement about US, rather than positive about LU ;).
Because nobody rides trains in the US. It's a massive continent of a country. The only reasonably fast way to cross these great distances is to fly. Not to mention American car culture is huge. I don't get how people don't understand this.
@@SoloTravelerOffTheBeatenPath In New York there is vast public transit system called the MTA. The problem is that it's dirty, smells like piss, common delays and the fares keeps going up.
@@SoloTravelerOffTheBeatenPath We're not talking about long distance train travel, we're talking about trains for people commuting to work from outlying areas. We do have them in (I would say) the ten largest cities, but smaller cities than that are just screwed.
polifatts I've seen this exact reply on multiple comments, you're just copying that statement for any comment talking about American transit
One of the things I find exceptional about trains in Japan is that when your train is late, you can pick up a little late slip as you get off the train that to the nearest 10 minutes says how much you were delayed, and workplaces accept them as a proof of the delay not being your fault.
If you try to arrive at work on time and then the train is 45 minutes late, then oh well, you just start work 45 minutes later that day. It's fantastic. If a train is late or unreliable, then it doesn't worry you nearly as much. This also means that the train network has pressure from businesses and by extension local government to operate well.
The other thing of course, is that your workplace has to pay you back for your trains to and from work every month.
I think that speaks more to the employers rather than the transit. In America even if you have a late slip or sick note employers would still blame you
@@karakaaa3371 Japan's work culture is entirely different. They're also usually expected to work longer hours and also often more overtime.
There's also a lot of sexual assault on Japan's public transport
You can pick up a proof of delay slip in a lot of European countries too. If the employers accept it is another question though.
@@sqrtof81 for that part, my understanding is they legally have to accept it... it is one of the labor laws. same with the payment for the journey fare, which is usually rather significant
the other side of the coin however, is that the employer can tell you where to live, or transfer you from one city to another, and that is the norm. it is also legal to employ only people from a certain neighborhood, this is why certain parts of Japanese cities have a super-high population density, whilst others are relatively empty...
Luxembourg: The only country where people speak english with a French, German, Belgian and Dutch accent at once.
I don't know if that's a joke but we speak english, luxembourgish, german and french (and a lot of people speak even more languages because of their origin, lots of Portuguese for example).
What is a belgian accent
@@DrAElemayo Accent of people living in Belgium obviously.
Dutch accent? Nah, just because the flag is similar doesn't mean the rest is similar aswell
@@_blank-_ Wtf are you saying ?
Belgian = from Belgium.
Just google it that's not hard.
There's an irony in someone named "Carr" advocating for public transport.
Ever see a comment with a lot of likes and have the urge to leave a comment?
Why is that ironic? Arent taxis car?
@@kdvr766 taxis are not public transport
@@MannyJazzcats Taxis are legally considered public transport.
Yes, if you are Alanis Morrisette.
4:04 disagree i think free transit is brilliant for tourists when they can just hop on hop off without having to worry about the complexity of getting tickets. it makes a city more appealing to visit.
Definately! Had that in Melbourne (it's free in the center) and it was pure joy
And the minister didnt say anything about tourists at all ...😂
@@azeria5438 When I was in Melbourne the area that had free transit i.e the CBD is so small, its not worth mentioning that its free. The free part is like 4 stops on the tram, as soon as you go one more than that you need a valid ticket. For a tourist its easier just to get a ticket then figure out where the free area ends. Maybe things gave changed since then?
It's common in US cities around ski resorts, free public transit is common, mainly so tourist can move between the ski slopes, hotels, and restaurants quickly and easily.
Especially if you are not confident with the language.
That bloke from the Government is Luxemburg in one image: French accent, with german ways of speaking (individual mobility is a direct translation of Individualverkehr).
I like that very much about Luxembourg. Even if it's silly it makes me assume that Luxembourg, somehow, combines all the positives of France and Germany without the negatives of either.
French accent? No, his accent is typically Luxembourgish. I'm familiar with Luxembourg, I can identify their accent in German, in French and English. It's highly typical.
I was surprised at all the signs in French. I thought Luxembourgers spoke Luxebourgish.
@@b43xoit Yes, they mainly *speak* Luxembourgish (although all of them also know French and German) but public information is mostly posted in French (and German).
@@majy1735 One of my cousins took a tip to Europe in '98 and briefly went through Luxembourg, bought a newspaper while he was there. Most of it was in German, the entertainment section was in French and there was a page with a crossword puzzle and comic strips in Luxembourgish.
Transit that's "ok by European standards" = phenomenal by American standards
I took a train from a medium sized town to the regional city in Germany, at 8:30am on a weekday. It was on time to within a minute and there were plenty of seats free. Trying to do the same thing in the UK would have meant folding yourself into two different people's armpits or waiting for another doubly-overcrowded train because your one was inexplicably cancelled
More like revolutionary by American standards..
@@ArghyadeepPal America covers the same land mass with half the population, and enormous stretches of largely empty land between cities. Some states, like Nevada, are nearly 90% state owned (wild) land. It's absurd to expect such a place to have particularly good public transit. I have also lived in Japan, where public transit is eons past anything in Europe, so Europe can f off. Their transit is a sad third place at best.
@@rockspoon6528 Rockspoon someone hasn't been sleeping well.
PKMartin its strange seeing that london has double the population of the entire irish republic
I'm really impressed that you got the Deputy Prime Minister / Minister for Mobility and Public Works for your video 😮
And it's a really nice video too
OTOH, it's Luxembourg, Tom has a few times more subscribers than it has population
sundhaug92 What does the number of his subscribers entitle him to?
@@ampelmann2003 Popularity-backed trustworthiness?
Jan Zacharias because everyone with popularity is trustworthy
@@ampelmann2003 *cough* Donald Trump *cough*
As a civil engineer in Luxembourg, I can tell you that if a train is late is most of the time due to works that are taking place on the luxembourguish train lanes, or train stations that are being increase. Luxembourg is investing a lot on new infrastructures and at the moment is in real good progress. Only in few years we will see and feel the result of those investements
how's it going?
I'd love to read an update a year later
me too give an update
"It has happened that people are standing for an hour and a half on the platform, waiting for the train, with no substitute buses or anything. So, that's an extreme case, obviously"
Canadian checking in, I was nodding along until "So, that's an extreme case, obviously".
If you don't mind me asking but where in Canada do you live? I've never waited that long for a train in my life unless we're not on the same page
Apples AreGoodz Here in London, Ontario the buses are notoriously bad, and that’s it for public transportation. I’ve regularly waited 15 minutes for a 5 minute bus, only for 3 of them to roll up at the same time, literally bumper to bumper.
Me, an Italian: *laughs in Circumvesuviana*
Me, a Brazilian, laughs in Sardine-can-buses-during-a-pandemic
Matt Tanner Here in Windsor it’s the same situation
Luxembourg: Unreliable public transit for free
UK: Unreliable public transit that will cost you a kidney every time it’s cancelled at the last minute
Thanks, Margaret Thatcher.
I mean it's lit in London ... Just don't live in the rest od the UK 😂😂 problem solved
Yea, I live in Newcastle and the metros are awful.
I'm glad I moved to Luxembourg
US: Good luck if your train or bus even arrives.
As someone who lives in the Bay Area, hearing that this transit system is merely “okay” makes me really want to hop across the pond
Ugh tell me about it... to get to school and around I use Bart, muni, AC transit, and so on 🙄😂
And if you take the BART under the Oakland bridge, you technically need to wear hearing protection unless you want to get permanent hearing damage.
I have been to the bay area recently. And from my rural bavarian (where we have shitty trains) perspective I can say: what on earth are you guys doing BA"R"T looks like you captured it in WWII and never maintained it.
@@autious OMG I wasn't the only one who thought that part was super loud. It has improved, but still it is insanely loud.
@Nigel Cam Well, highways suck and they destroy cities, and I prefer public transport over driving for an hour.
When I went to Tokyo, I was blown away by their transit system. The trains were super quick and always on time. You could almost set your watch to them.
Same in Switzerland.
Too bad they live like vermin in tiny pods.
I live in Poland and we have awesome public transport - even in smallest unimportant shitty villages you have bus/tram that will take you very close to where you want to go.
like you could totally live in in other part of city/other town that you work/learn and not own a car.
and also its free for elderly, and free to blood donors
I'm from Switzerland. Our public transport is fantastic but very expensive. A lot of people wish it would be cheaper for elderly. Can I ask you how people prove that they are blood donors (like do they have to carry a special card?)
@@Leenapanther
Blood donors have a thing that literally translated would mean "Little Book of Blood Donor" and well it is little book thingy
With it you can also skip lines in certain places and get some other services and stuff
When it come to special thingies for public transportation there are also other cards and what not. Like for example some cities have cards for large families.
As there are essentially 3 levels of regulations of public transport. National, local government and company. It varies quite a bit.
@@Leenapanther in Poland, people over 70 or 75 (depending on the city) have public transport for free. I find it a bit excessive, I wish it was at least limited to off-peak hours.
That blood donors have free public transport is a nice touch. I like it.
@@roodborstkalf9664 yea, also many sport-related places (like pools, gyms) give them good discounts etc.
Luxemburg: Public transit is now free
UK: We want to make public transit cheeper
US: Y'all have public transit?
The US has public transit where it makes some form of sense. It just makes sense in a lot fewer places than it does for many other parts of the world.
@@benjaminmiddaugh2729 exactly. We have city-subsidized transit in the collage town I live in. And there was talk of getting busses to the capital. But we don't have the dedicated passenger-only rail network that we'd need to make it viable on a national scale.
DFX2KX Even if the infrastructure existed it would get very little use. The distances are simply too great. Would you rather take a train from say Houston to Chicago or fly? Most people would prefer to fly, even if it’s significantly more expensive. Assuming the train travelled at a constant 100 mph (which probably isn’t realistic) it would still take ~10 hours to make the trip, while a plane takes 2.5 hours.
@@coolbrounderscore it would make sense for short distance like Cleveland Akron Canton Columbus line
There is some public transits here, it's acrually a huge privet company that makes the transport possible but it is opn to the public. I have used them quite a bit. NJ and NY I know for a fact have but idk about other states.
As a luxembourgish student, I have to take the public transport everyday.
Before the new law of getting rid to pay for the transports, every student got a card called "schülerkaart" (students card) in which a free transport was already included. It guaranteed a free transport inside the country of Luxembourg, you only have to pay for border-passing rides.
Greetings from Luxembourg🇱🇺
In The Netherlands all students get nation wide free public transport during weekdays (or during the weekend, you can choose)
That sounds amazing here in The U.S I have to pay 10 or more dollars just to get to School because there is no direct route.
An fierdrun gouf et d'Jumbos Kaart. Aiaiai d jugend vun haut 😅
@@davidf2023 enplus, mat der Jumboskaart kruus du Rabatt am Kino, am Mcdo etc ! Ech well rem zreck an dei gudd aal Zait :P
Now your mommy can ride you to school instead of driving you there. ;)
I have to say that the trains are practically never late... They might be cancelled but not always!
2:32 "A lot of the rolling stock is dated"
Lmao what?
Most trains are air-conditioned, leaning, double deckers that are only 10-15 years old. The tram is literally brand new. The oldest trains on the network, used on some less-travelled routes, are from 1990. Doesn't London still use tube trains from the 60s?
hahah, was thinking the exact same thing. The only thing that is dated is sometimes the engines on the older trains, but they work fine.
I've ridden almost every possible mode of transportation in Luxembourg. If it's from 1990, it hardly shows, because it's painted and cleaned.
The 1990 trains are used on most lines, high and low demand, but they are RB trains, meaning they stop at every village.
the train the showed at that time you tagged is the only train that is outdated all the others are at least renewed if I'm not mistaking and the tram well yes that is like completely new
Actually the oldest london tube stock is from 1972- on the Bakerloo (brown) line..
If ticket sales only covers 10% of the cost, getting rid of it will lose you even less. Cause you'll save money on not having to maintain a ticket system, checking passengers and so on.
This is one of the arguments in favour of UBI, the infrastructure, staff and buildings required to help people find work uses between a fifth and a quarter of what it would cost to move to UBI and that they only need to find the other 75-80%
The gov has actually stated it will keep most train inspectors, as safety and assistance to people trying to figure out what train to take, etc. Also, i havent seen a bus inspector in years, and I rode the bus on a daily basis all throughout my teens.
I have to disagree on that one cause you don't really need personnel to check and print tickets nowadays. It's Hella cheap to just create a paperless ticketing system (or an app that gets you access to trains) and people have internet on every device imaginable nowadays. You just need the right coding behind it all, that's it. Then you can maybe do 5% and overall you are getting worth 10% or more. Do you get me?
@@SahilP2648 That's probably how they could keep all the people related to it on payroll. From several clips it seemed that the local transport already heavily relies on IT-systems, which is the only way to do it these days.
Having a possibility to buy an online ticket though, doesn't make people buy it. That's why you still need respective people doing random checks. Someone before said, it wasn't done (which I am very surprised of), they must have since changed the system or Luxembourg just doesn't think their stuff through.
(I am not local, neither do I mean to offend anyone :) )
@@SahilP2648 still need other means as not everyone has a smartphone so ticket infrastructure is still needed, can be machines doing it but an app on its own would not cut it.
"Waiting an hour and an a half for a train with no replacement bus services"
ah so that's just Northern on a regular day
Not just Northern Haha. Happens on the east coast line too!
And in Switzerland I've never seen a train more than 3 minutes late
"Waiting a(n) hour." The H is silent so it becomes (an)
Deutsche Bahn manages to do this, too. :/
You should try coming to France XD
Luxembourgians: Waiting an hour and a half for the train because of technical failure
Me: Laughs in German
2:25 Can we just all agree that those are the greatest seats ever found on a Tram.... THEY LOOK STRAIGHT OUT OF CYBERPUNK!!!!
they are very unpleasant to use, just hard plastic. The most amazing seats are in the "old rolling stock" from the video, these are soft, 20cm thick chairs.
@@ugemellt So? They look cool, and if they contour to your body then it doesn’t matter
@@coastaku1954 i guess everyone has his priorities.
All this hand-wringing about how it's not perfect and I'm standing here like "Wow this is better than anything in my country and it's free"
As a Dutch person, it is very convenient and cool, but Luxembourg is also very, very small, and also quite wealthy considering it’s size. It can afford it.
It's not free. Change that mindset. It's payed for through tax dollars. Meaning it's paid for at the point of a gun weather you use it and need it or not.
@@drsch no it's not free but it _is_ much cheaper for the average citizen, because the costs of maintaining a fare architecture (i.e maintaining and tanning ticket machines and offices, paying the salaries of ticket inspectors and gatekeepers) is decimated. In a moral tax system the vast majority of the tax pool will come from corporations and the elite anyway, so it really does help the working/middle class.
@@drsch literally no European gets a gun pointed at them to pay for public transportation
@@drsch If you want to go and live somewhere where you have no obligation to anyone else, there's ways to do that. You haven't chosen that option, though, because it's insane, isn't it?
As a Luxembourgish person, it feels so surreal watching a video and recognizing every location shown in it. I'm just absolutely not used to it.
Honestly great work on the video, explains everything very great :)
@Pro Pane I lived in Luxembourg in the mid 1990s, and passed through again 5 years ago, cycling home to Ireland from Poland. There has been some new bike infra installed since I lived there, but not a whole lot (there's a long segregated cycle track named after Nicholas Franz who won the Tour de France in 1927 and 1928) It's not difficult to cycle there though.
@Pro Pane they have at the moment arojnd 500km of cycling track and want to expant it with 600km more, but they are far behind shedule. But that is typucal Luxembourg 😜 we need 35 years from planing to finish building on a motorway of 20km, incl three tunnels and one bridge (extantion of A7 between Luxembourg and Mersch)
Did you speak Dutch there? Want Dan kan ik dat ook
Big whoop, Sooup. If you stand on the roof of your house, you can see the entire country! 🤪
@@kommandant.357 only on the campings 😅
The Canadian City Ottawa did it during decemeber 2021 as a"sorry our transportation has been so bad lately" kind of move and it was fantastic. Especially when it's super cold you don't want to be fumbling with your wallet or pulling cards out of pockets or bags when you got gloves on. It was so awesome to just walk onto the bus and have it take you somewhere
Luxembourg be like:
_Oh we'll give you a ride to work but we don't want you living here_ 😂
For a second I thought I was watching in grey-scale untill I realised he's wearing a jumper and most probably wearing a red t-shirt underneath
The hoodie is part of his standard wardrobe, along with his signature 10 dark red T-shirts, 10 pairs of black jeans, black socks, and, I assume, matching underwear. It must be quite liberating.
Buddy Clem don’t forget the numerous suits
@@buddyclem7328 Speaking as someone who buys t-shirts, underwear, and socks (aside from the ones my mother knits) in bulk - it is. Although I maybe should try and find a colour other than black for my t-shirts.
It’s still cold - no wonder he’s not in just the T-shirt.
ً tell Charlie that
4:54 thats the coolest stained glass window I've ever seen
Central station, main building I believe
It used to be even prettier 4 years ago before they covered half of it up with that ugly electronic sign. It used to be a nice old fashioned mechanical sign that didnt cover up the window and fit the aesthetic of the station better.
That's a shame
@Vedant K B)
Then you should come visit Church of Norte Dame in Paris, they have.... oh wait
I love how these videos are so similar to the boring ones you had to watch during geography class and it was so boring. But then 10 years later as an adult it's absolutely fascinating.
It’s called Growing Up.
Some never do.
If it's about a topic you're interested in, it's not boring.
omg i’m from luxembourg and this video makes me so nostalgic for it with all the places i recognize 😭😭
Is there a country left in Europe that has not been graced by Tom Scott's presence lmao
Yes
Romania, correct me if im wrong.
One of the Balkan countries maybe?
Greece?
Croatia
i just returned from a trip to luxembourg and i must say, i really liked the free transport, me and my classmates were able to travel whereever whenever. it could be better, but it is a great start
Me: Sees title and clicks on the video to find out my question
Video begins: "Luxembourg is a small country."
Me: Why can't youtube videos be this direct?
"cancelled trains, delayed buses" - sounds like Yorkshire public transport but without the sense you're being ripped off.
Send them our old pacer trains over. They'll soon pay for a ticket if it meant not having to get on a pacer 😂
That's why it does matter that they are free. Paying for a cancelled train is equal to being robbed.
@@065Tim Delay repay means cancelled UK trains are free too!
@@dcarbs2979 that assumes that you have a season ticket
@@kye.warrer Not so. I had a one-way single from Doncaster to Brighton which was over an hour late. I was entitled to (and got) a *full* refund. I'd never been to Yorkshire before in my life and haven't been back since.
This country is soo small I know exactly where every shot was taken. Yes, I live there
Lmao wow that's really cool actually
Me too! XP
But TBH, the worst issue with the public transport isn't that it gets late sometimes, but the fact, that to get to certain places one has to do a lot of switching between different lines. The housing cost is terribly high, though.
I've been to Luxembourg twice, and I recognise most of those places :)
me 2
Even I know around 70% of the locations in this video, just from a one-day visit half a year ago...
Funny
There are amazing small countries worldwide where the average life is just much calmer and happier.
don't be fooled, we're just as stressed and depressed as everyone else
@@NowhereNoOne Speak for yourself.
I went there for a student exchange, back in 2022. I remember when I was with a group of around 20 people, and we all rushed to the train because it was about to leave. Immediately, I thought "okay, this is going to get really awkward because there's 20 of us without a ticket". Then I found out that public transportation in Luxembourg is free, and it felt so strange to me. It was a nice experience
2:32 "lot of the rolling stock is dated" shows footage of a trainset made in the '90s. Heh, that is "fairly modern" by the standards of Hungarian railways.
(laughs in American)
1960s is fairly modern
Bosstown Dynamics trains in NL typically run for twenty years plus twenty years, with one big refurb in between.
@@the_last_raposa3810 no, not when it comes to trains. Most trains build nowadays will have between a 20-30 year operating window before it isn't worth keeping compared to the cost of repairs. This is not true for all locomotives though.
It is comparable to airplanes, but instead of measuring it by how many times the cabin have been compressed/decompressed and how it will affect the body of the airplane, it is measured by when the repairs exceed the expected innovation for new trains on the market.
If your country or state is still using rollingstock from the 1980s, they really need funding.
Actually the rolling stock of Luxembourg isn't dated at all, the oldest train is that train set shown but the majority of o rolling stock trains running in Luxembourg are less than 20 years old
With less private cars on the streets, the chance buses to be on time will become higher and higher
theoretically
well buses. this definitely will not help the trains though. it will likely make overcrowding on commuter lines and light-rail worse by a standard deviation or two.
Imagine that on some stretches, there's just a queue of busses during peak hour and just waiting on other busses :P not that that can't be solved in any way tho.
unspokenbrute That is how all taxes work - every person doesn’t use every service they pay into. On the flip side to your concern, there are the lower paid people Tom mentions, who can’t afford a car so travel by train. Their taxes go towards funding new roads and maintaining the rest but they don’t use them.
The point of pushing more people to public transport over the private car is the benefits for society in general - less pollution, less noise, better health, roads/car parks which take up large areas of land can be opened up for people rather than cars - the list goes on.
@@unspokenbrute not at all LMAO. Luxembourg is one of the countries where tax are very low.
Awesome work as usual, Tom!
I like how this video shared the benefits, drawbacks, and motivations of this idea and showed how much more complicated things can be when we start looking into them.
In UK buses and trains are getting expensive year after year and they are rare on time.
I get the bus for free in Scotland, but it almost doubles the journey time compared to driving
You voted for it, so don't complain.
It’s because of tiny tax havens robbing British public of their taxes.
Well there's a £2 bus fare cap for most buses
@@krisp1631 Where's that? The buses in my area charge over £12 for a day ticket
This is a cool decision and all and a great enviromental move...
But I'm more impressed that Tom has the leverage to get an interview with the Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg.
It's not that hard in a small country of 600,000 people to get an interview if you ask. If you are working on a project, they are most often happy to talk to you. In high school, I did an assignment where I got an interview with him.
It’s like getting to interview a relatively low level city official in a city of 600,000 people (e.g. El Paso, Texas). Probably not all that hard.
Luxembourg has about the population of Milwaukee
I'm impressed that the Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg has the leverage to get an interview with Tom Scott 😎
@@neues3691
You need public pressure if you want improvements to transit to actually happen in a timely way. Making fares free is a good way to generate that public pressure because obviously more people want to use something if you drop the price. Some people believe that every dollar spent on fare subsidies means a dollar less spent on improvements but that's an unrealistically simplistic belief. Real politics is more dynamic than that.
The American in me is just happy to see those strange track-riding busses
Trams?
trams
In the US we use the word "tram" only for aerial trams, as you would see at ski resorts to get up the mountain.
@@themoviedealers We in MA use it in regards to street cars/ green line trains.
Instead of just changing the word, just call it trams like everyone else in the world please?
Your videos, LITERALLY could not be any better, they are so perfect, love them, thank you.
Bro in the office has a watch on each arm. Legend.
Brə moment
Got a lot of time on his hands.
@@EDoyl underrated
Hi, I am from Luxembourg (even born there), now I am 25 years old, and I have to say the Luxembourg public transportations is good!
I live in almost the northest place of Luxembourg 5min by car to the nearest trainstation (Drauffelt), where during the week at least 2 times the hour a train goes to Luxembourg city.
the journey to the Kirchberg (where the European buildings are located) takes by car 50 min in the weekend and by train + tram 60 min. With the car you need still to find a parking spot and pay for it, excl petrol price!
Unfortunatly I need my car during my job, else I would for sure take the public transportation to my work! For my hobby I try to use it at much as possible 😉
What tourist often think, the cancelations and delays in their country are the same in Luxembourg, but that is not! the most train traffic systems are in abroad ring formations, in Luxembourg, because it is small and geological not easy to do that, is here the train system a star formation, where the main point is in Luxembourg city. From here there is going f. ex. line 10 is the northen line and will not loop back. If you cancel here a train, the whole line is blocked, so that won't work. the trains are often delayed (5-15min), but not cancelled!
the bus system is going to be improved in the next few years. there are driving already more busses since two years, so this system will changing still and smaller towns like will get also better conections!
What we have in Luxembourg too, and not mentioned is, night busses. Because here are a lot of small towns (for you very small towns, with a few hunderds people living) so to go to a party, you have to switch towns.
there are three types of night busses: night navette, night rider and late night bus.
night navette is a line what only travelles during the outgoing times
night rider is a taxi, where the most towns it is free to use. I pay 75€ a year to order this taxi bus for a whole for free. I can order this bus like a taxi from 6pm until 6am in the weekends. It doesn't matter how often or how far I use it in a year.
late night bus is only driving for the bigger partys or concerts. this bus have a specific route, where you can enter on a bus station and you will dropped off around 10pm on the party and the bus will go back at 1:30am and 3:30am (partys has to close at 3am) this bus is also free and is there that the people don't drive and drink. if you take this bus, you get often even a free drink sponsered by the organisation!
I am proud to live in this luxery country who can afford free transportation for everybody, even for dissabled people, who need a special bus (Adapto)
basielux anno I live in Luxembourg too and this very accurate information, thank you for taking the time to explain everything!
What is this, a short novel?
some people call me maurice
@@averagecommunist3456 hehe, I could tell you much more about the public transportation in Luxembourg 😅
like extra trains during events in Luxembourg city or with the Luxembourg card (tourist card, really cheap) that you don't only have in most attractions, museums and sightseeings free entrance, but you had also with that card already free transportation 😉 (a must have as a tourist)
MR.minecraft RUclips comments don’t always have to be funny 1-sentence long quotes from the video.
As a Luxembourger, it's so strange to see these places in a video like this. Ususally slip under the radar!
You guys are not even picked up by radar???
Just kidding :D
Have a great day
So far I've seen Luxembourger, Luxembourgian and Luxemburgish used in these comments. Just what the hell do we call you Luxxers?
Very much on the radar of tax dodgers 😂
Rob Fraser so a person from Luxembourg is called a Luxembourger and if you want an adjective it’s Luxembourgish (Luxembourgian is just wrong)
Rob Fraser I orefer to call ourselves Luxury Burger
So I‘m actually luxembourgish and our public transport is evolving so much lately. One main problem I always figured is that, depending on where you live, busses don’t pass by that often a day. Recently this is changing though, as there are more bus lines coming up and they start to drive more frequently. It sure has happened that a bus was late or just didn’t show up, but I‘ve been in Germany now for a few months and this happens way more frequently here. Also it’s still better to miss a bus u didn’t pay for. So I‘d say that overall we can be really happy with our system even though it clearly isn’t perfect, it’s getting better. (Also for all those who commented on how clean busses and trains look: yes they are clean, no they usually don’t smell of piss, are you all okay..?)
But if I own a car the "bus" will always run exactly when I need it to.
@@nonyafkinbznes1420 I mean, when they come every 15 minutes at a precise time every time, that's not that much of an issue. Plus, you can do other things while on a bus or train, like check your email or watch a video. Would much rather chill and possibly even get some stuff done than have to drive in traffic.
@@celestialtree8602 But they don't run that precisely and you're limited to the bus route.
@@nonyafkinbznes1420 They do if they're competently designed (or rather, run that precisely the vast majority of the time, and the people who run it will take responsibility if it doesn't).
Though, at the point where they're competently designed, there's a good chance you'll also have other alternatives like trams, a metro, and bike infrastructure. Oftentimes these are chained together by people in well-designed cities, such as biking to the metro, taking the metro for a bit, and then biking to their final destination.
Notably, even if you're not going to use it, it's in your best interest to support public transit. Downs-Thompson paradox and all that; car traffic will increase until it's faster to take a different mode of transport, so ideally you want the other modes of transport to be quick and convenient so car traffic is as well.
@@celestialtree8602 No, because proponents of the "alternatives" advocate stealing lane space and infrastructure from drivers to put their bike lanes, bus lanes, bus stops and trams. They also advocate raising taxes on drivers and imposing ever more infraction enforcement fines to pay for it. That's why gasoline costs about double in Germany compared to America, plus your outrageous VAT.
It's interesting that drivers are told they need to support alternatives, while the proponents of alternatives rarely support driving.
What’s “okay” by European standards is “Really nice” by American standards
Sorry I couldn't hear you in my 6.7L 4x4 cummins rolling coal dodge that I am currently using to get some milk
@@userseveneleven b a s e d
It's the last time anyone will say "my train was cancelled - I want my money back"!
my tax money... And I do not like that the amount of tax money available cannot provide a reliable service.
"I want my time back."
"it has happened that people are standing for an hour and a half on the platform, waiting for the train."
Compared to parts of germany, those a rookie numbers.
UK laughing in the distance where some trains are cancelled or delayed for hours
You mean the third world parts of Germany like Bavaria? As a person who commutes about two to three hours a day for more than a decade now, I seriously don't get many of the complaints people have for the Bahn.
@@Ruhrpottpatriot It differs widely between different parts of Germany. David Kriesel did an interesting talk on this topic. It is called "Bahnmining" if you're interested.
Wait, you guys have passenger commuter trains?
@@xL3thalTuRdZz rest in peace
I can see there have been a few comments already from people living in Luxembourg, but I would like to add my two cents here:
As a student, public transportation was already free for me before the reform this video is about, but it's still great. Buses and Trains being late is way less of a problem than this video makes it out to be, in years of using public transportation almost everyday, I have had only a couple bad experiences; and none of them awful. Buses and trains are clean, you have an app to track delays and to give you the shortest route from points A to B. In thr capital itself, there are electric bike renting stations every few hundred metres, which makes transportation incredibly flexible (although here I have to say that the annual subscription for the bikes is 18€, a very small amount but not free nonetheless). All in all, I think public transport in Luxembourg is great!
In Gothenburg there is practically a very inticate network that is close to being "from anywhere to everywhere". The region around called Västra Götaland has the same transit company, and shares the rails with the national railway company.
Now, they are not free, and the prices have gone beyond the costs of owning a car, but at least in GBG the parking is a nightmare in which it is sometimes preferable to take public transportation.
Within Västra Götaland, should a train be overly delayed there are alternative trains to take, or bus-jumping. Outside this region (like to Stockholm) is trickier. Should a rail line have problems and trains are canceled the whole day bus substitues will be brought in.
We do have "express" trains that are 20% faster than the regular, but most often 20% dekayed. ;)
3:12 An hour and a half is an extreme case
*Laughs in Indian*
why can't you just show up later if you know they're always running late? I don't live in the city and I haven't used public transportation before so I'm just curious.
@@blazereho811 here in india, in the state where i live an express train was once late by 48hrs, and mind it this is just in my state.
@@anuranansaha7162 crazy! Did it actually come in In Switzerland, if the train is late by 20 minutes, the connection mostly gets cancelled and switches to the next possible train/bus. But I guess in that case you can't compare Switzerlands public transport to Indias
@@curlyy6 Well, trains in India are running for thousands of kilometres and are sometimes weekly once. I have actually sat in a train that was 24 hours late departing from New Delhi. It was coming from 500 km up north. We had to wait an entire day because we had confirmed reservation on that train and getting a confirmed ticket on the same day was not a thing 20 years ago (they have an immediate day service now, with higher charges obviously).
I have seen trains getting cancelled in Italy if they get delayed by 1 or 2 hours because the next connection will be along anyway when the entire train journey is just 200 kms max for regional transports (Lombardia).
@@henrywalsh683 that happens in a lot of countries for example in japan the trains go thousands of km and once a train was late by 2 hours and they had to write an apology on the news you can go and check
To be honest though, it's very rare that busses or trains would be cancelled in Luxembourg. It's only happened to me a 5 or 6 times in my entire 18 years of living there even though I've nearly always used public transport (and regularly). Although it is true that the busses are often late, they are late nearly only during rush hour, which is absolutely a problem but not the worst problem in the world (and if I would travel via car I'd still be stuck in traffic, just for less time)
I lived in many cities and countries before Luxembourg and I find it absolutely fine. It's mind blowing to hear people complaining about it.
@@superresistant0 totally acceptable to complain about the rush hour traffic, there are some axes with stupid amount of traffic
Still quite high, though, our notions of a cancellation could be quite different, as I live in a big Metropolis where if one bus is cancelled an alternative will arrive relatively quickly
Couldn't I normally expect you to be honest? It's an exception when you choose to?
🇬🇧:💀
When I lived in Lux, having free public transport was literally life-changing. I'd stop halfway through my journey home for a coffee or some shopping, get back on the tram 2 hours later and not have to pay again. And when you're feeling lazy, it's great to get the bus for only one stop. In countries where you have to pay, I'd always rather walk than pay for 1 stop
How did I not notice that you released a video about the country I live in. It's great to see it have some coverage like this!
I wonder if this actually saves them money since there fees were so low already. Considering they can save on ticket guards and the running and maintenance of ticket machines.
not sure. But "ticket guards" will have other tasks. Maybe not all, but there was no plan to have mass reduction of jobs.
The huge savings comes from not having to upgrade roads and repair them it far outweighs loss in fare.
Living in Luxembourg, I never encountered a ticket guard. People joke that they're a myth. I know they exist, but they're so rare many people just risk it.
@@lauranight4572 before going free, I heard there were always no ticket guards in the buses but for sure always in the trains
in britain we have roads that introduced charges to cover the cost of laying the road. decades later, after the construction has been paid for, the charges cover the cost of charging users.
I have to say, this is one of Tom's better videos despite the lack of pizazz. I think it makes a very good point about public transport that all countries need to take into account: Make it reliable, and they will come. It's one of the primary ways we can fight climate change and we need to take the right approach at it.
In Germany we had the 9€ Ticket a month, for three months in summer 2022. It was a great succes but it showed us that the whole system is low funded and not reliable. But for P.t. the high price for fuel is a great Chance to bind customers.
People wait 1:30 hrs for the train, "that's an extreme case of course"
*laughs in Italian*
"It has happened that people are waiting for an hour and a half on the platform for a train."
Laughs as a Canadian who literally had to wait 13 hours for my train to show up.
Are the trains finally active again?
13 hour wait time on VIA Rail?
That's actually not that bad, I've heard of some people waiting 48 hours for the train to show up at Edmonton Station
that's it i'm off to luxembourg. as someone who can never drive for medical reasons, this is damn brilliant!
When you come I'm going to welcome you
Be Welcome and enjoy :)
Greetings from Luxembourg! We are very grateful for free transport!
Hi! Sending lots of love and hugs from Estonia 🇪🇪 it's not often our small country is mentioned somewhere 😊🤗❤️
As a citizen of Luxembourg it’s cool to see this subject covered!
Tallinn, Estonia is still the biggest city in the world with free public transport.
As a Transport Management and Urban Planning major, I agree with everything you said in this video!
Tom Scott dropping "post scarcity society" like a G would. Much respect
I love the contradicting sources, gives the entire picture. Thanks Tom!
Yh it really provides a balanced view!
I initially came to this video thinking oh wow free transport?
Then I realised that it doesn’t really matter if it’s not if a good quality.
And it's why I am a little bit sceptical about the free bit. It's not like there aren't other ways to invest these fares, increasing capacity, frequency and reliability should be bigger priorities imo. Not that Luxemburg hasn't enough money to invest in better public transportation, mind you.
@@barvdw Isn't that what the lady is pointing out? Making it free is not a solution for the real problem, the government is just doing the easiest thing.
@@ohredhk Indeed, and I agree with her.
In the UK you wait an hour and a half for the train, do the whole journey standing up and pay through the nose for the privilege.
*outside london
In fairness, most stations that have any sort of significant population near to them generally get at least hourly, if not half hourly services each way.
@Jonathan Baker When there aren't problems with the signals...or the train cars don't have any problems...or there isn't the wrong kind of leaves on the line...or there isn't a load of invisible snow...etc,etc,etc......
Where the hell do you live? That's not my experience.
And people wonder why the US doesn't like trains...
I was in Luxembourg last month for work. The transit was running great -- not too crowded, always seemed to be on time. But the cars were *way* thinner on the ground than in this video.
Thankfully Luxembourg city now has a tram line and they're extending it...
Luxenbourg: "Waiting 1,5h on the train without substitute is a extreme case"
The Swedish rail transport: "Hold my beer"
Dutch rail transport: "I wish I could hold your beer, but sadly I will be 3 hours late due to leaves on the tracks"
And yes, they actually often cancel trains down here due to leaves on the tracks. It is just terrible.
Germany's 'Deutsche Bahn':
"Hold mein Bier"
@@CarthagoMike Well, it's easy for the train to miss your station if it's going at normal speeds with leaves on the tracks.
Sorry I'm late... a truck damaged power lines, and then we were waiting for every other train to pass.
Polish railways in the nutshell.
In Japan, waiting 1,5h for the train is an very extremely extreme case. They apologize if the train is as much as a few seconds late
"No one ever knows, if the trains are voing to be on time."
As a german with personal experience with the "Deutsche Bahn" (DB), I can totally relate to that statement.
2 times I bought tickets with Deutsche Bahn, 2 times cancelled.
Also the lady said it was an "extreme situation" waiting 1.5h for your train because one was cancelled.
That's just my normal day here in Germany.
indian trains: *hold my beer*
That is a really interesting comment about the German Rail network. In the UK each time the media run a story about how crap the trains are everyone blurts out "BUT IN (insert any Western or Central European Country) THE TRAINS ARE PERFECT"......
@@hellfiregrowler If I recall correctly, Germany (as well as the Netherlands, to my surprise) has one of the most on-point railway systems in the world.
Yet, they complain the most about the lack of punctuality of their trains. Really just seems like they're very dependent on it.
This is to be applauded! Public transport in many places is significantly more expensive than the direct cost of driving. I gave up on DC metro after three years of paying exorbitant ticket prices, dealing with surly staff and increasing delays. Driving just made more sense, especially when I could share it a few days a week with colleagues.
I feel that in general, free transit will maximize its use and is helpful to lower incomes. Incomprehensible why this is not applied in other countries. Recovering the cost of transit through fares is usually a complete non-starter as rail based transit is simply too capital intensive. Trying to do so disadvantages lower incomes and does not maximize transit use. Kudos to Luxembourg for being this pragmatic!
Well done as usual. Our post-scarcity society in Star Trek had transporters and shuttles - instant (or nearly) travel. Which, interestingly, would mean I could live in Bali and work in downtown London without all the hassle. Well... if you don't call getting atomized by the transporter and re-materialized in the other end a "hassle" :D
2:15 Don't forget the cost of ticketing machines + people to check tickets/enforce it. It's likely cheaper for them to just make it free!
That is quite possibly true. I often wonder whether that might be true for a lot of our US toll roads and express lanes, when you consider ALL of the costs of collecting a fee -- building the roads to have separate areas and huge toll plazas, having people collect the fees, having people send tickets who don't pay, maintaining all of the toll booth equipment, and (most especially) the 'cost' of the roads being less efficient for everyone.
As someone living there I can totally agree with the “alright” aspect. Transport is free for most people already I.e students
So the country is full of students? You shouldn't be in college.
Lady at 3:09: No one ever knows if the trains are actually going to be on time
Me: *laughs in Trenord*
In many places, the cost of selling and collecting transit tickets outweighs the amount of money collected. In other words, charging fares is a money losing activity. They can save money by not charging fares.
"if your bus is always late and your train is always cancelled, it doesn't really matter if they are free"
* laughs in Brazilian *
European country: *Exists
Tom: I MUST GO!
been there for new years 2023 it was just great traveling around by tram for free, we did get there with the Belgian trains which you have to pay for
I've never heard Toom mention post-scarcity before. Would love to see more videos on the subject
At the very least Luxemburg is actually investing in public transit (like building a new Tram system and upgrading the rail network). Usually „free“ transit is oftentimes just mentioned as the be-all end-all solution of transportation but actually ends up harming investment in infrastructure and thus doesn’t really accomplish anything. If Luxemburg succeeds with it, it‘ll be down to increased investment in frequency and reliability rather than the fact of it being „free“.
I am from Luxembourg, The main reason people use their car instead of the bus is because the smaller villages (and there are many of them) around the capital are badly connected to the city centre. Often, there is only 1 bus an hour and the last bus runs at 9 pm so if you are going out with friends, you literally cannot get home on public transport.
This guy knows more about transit and automobile congestion than most U.S. Civil Engineers.
I live just across the border on the German side. Over the last couple of years buying or renting houses became so much more expensive here because of all the people working in Lux and living Ger. It's a problem
I visited this area around eight years ago when houses where much cheaper in Germany then now. I saw some nice houses in Germany 50 kilometers from the Luxemburg border that were 150 thousand Euro. Similar houses in villages in Luxemburg where 450 thousand Euro. It's probably much worse now since lunatics in the ECB have taken over the asylum.
What irks me is how anything wrong in the region is always somehow Luxembourg's fault. Like Germany did not intentionally let salaries stagnate and the Ruhr and Saar regions economically fall off a cliff and left Lux to pick up the pieces. But at least Saarland gets some incest jokes lobbed at them sometimes 🤣 I am sure they don't regret joining the Bund with all its deep solidarity.
So I live in Luxembourg and I haven't even seen you and now I'm sad. The country is so small that the chance of not meeting you is probably smaller than actually doing so 😭
Well done, Tom! This report is thoroughly put together!
In the USA a common problem is transit letting you out into a vast desert of parking lots and freeway interchanges, a long, smoky, dangerous walk from your destina
That point at the end was just ... awesome.
If anyone has read about dan ariely, remember his talk about the magic of zero to us? Luxembourg will see a lot of improvement in their traffic system, which then has ripple effects on other systems
@@afdkj haha I was thinking the same thing.
They did speak about investment into the transit system to improve it along with the public encouragement of free fare. The idea is likely to get people riding while making it work better. Best way to know how to improve things is to get a bunch of users in the system to find and squash the glitches.
Sounds like they have their work cut out for them.
Ripple effects usually never come to be. They are empty excuses. In other words, muck for mugs.
I mean, even without the ripple effects, any government incentivising the use of public transit is putting their money in lowering the carbon footprint on their country. Efficiency and cost are valid points but as long as more people use it, it sounds like a net positive policy.
In Germany instead, trains are so expensive that traveling from Munich to Berlin by car is cheaper even when traveling alone.
The result is exactly the same: too many cars.
This makes me laugh, people in the UK have a massive preconception that the railways in mainland Europe are really cheap and affordable!
This was the thing I was always wondering about. As a urban planner seeing what the fares were before they made it free, I asked myself: "If it's so cheap, why arent people using it now?"
Washington D.C. and Kansas City are the latest American cities to offer free mass transit. Other cities such as my hometown, Denver, offer free rides during peak air pollution months.