ルクセンブルク、全国で公共交通機関を無料化　世界初

【ルクセンブルクＡＦＰ＝時事】欧州連合（EU）の裕福な小国、ルクセンブルクは先月29日、世界で初めて公共交通機関の利用を無料化した。同国では非富裕層の労働者を支援するとともに、交通量を削減するための取り組みが行われている。（写真は無料化されたルクセンブルクの路面電車）
　他国の複数都市で交通機関の一部無料化がすでに行われているが、ルクセンブルクの交通・公共事業省によれば、全国でこのような決定を適用するのは同国が初めてだという。
　交通機関の無料化は世帯約４０％に影響を与え、１世帯当たり年間１００ユーロ（約１万２０００円）前後の節約になると推定されている。
　一方で、交通機関で働く人々は、無料化が職の確保にどう影響するか懸念している。
　駅で切符を販売する男性従業員は、自分の職に何が起きるか「まだ分からない」と述べ、「公共交通機関で働く全員が心配している。まだはっきりと分かっていない」と語った。
　券売機は徐々に駅から撤去される予定だが、国際列車や国内を走る列車の一等車座席は引き続き有料のため、切符売り場は残される。
　今回の無料化の措置は、渋滞緩和の取り組みの一環として実施された。ルクセンブルクでは自家用車が最もよく使われる移動手段であり、通勤方法の４７％、レジャー目的の移動の７１％に自家用車が使用されている。
　また隣接するフランス、ドイツ、ベルギーから２０万人以上がルクセンブルクに通勤している。その大半は自動車を使っており、これがピーク時の交通渋滞の原因となっている。小国であるルクセンブルクの人口はわずか６１万人で、国境を越えて通勤してくる「越境労働者」が被雇用者の半数を占めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/02-12:37）

Luxembourg on Saturday became the first country in the world to offer free public transport, as the small and wealthy EU country tries to help less-well-off workers and reduce road traffic.
Some cities elsewhere have already taken similar, partial measures. But the transport ministry said it was the first time such a decision covered an entire country.
The free transport, flagged as an important social measure, affects approximately 40 percent of households and is estimated to save each one around 100 euros ($110) per year.
Not all passengers were aware of the change, which was brought forward one day ahead of schedule.
It's free? I didn't know, said a woman in her 50s who gave her first name as Dominique as she waited at Luxembourg's main train station.
Transport workers were concerned about what impact the measure would have on their job security.
We don't yet know what will happen to their positions, said one ticket seller at the station who declined to give his name.
All the public transport workers are worried. It's not yet clear.
- Traffic woes -
The measure is part of a plan intended to reduce congestion.
Private cars are the most used means of transport in the Grand Duchy, accounting for 47 percent of business travel and 71 percent of leisure transport.
With more than 200,000 people living in neighbouring France, Germany and Belgium who work in Luxembourg and most of them driving in, that makes for major traffic jams at peak hours.
The population of the tiny country is just 610,000 and those cross-border workers account for half the total employees.
The capital city of Luxembourg has invested in its public transport network, notably by building a tram network, but commuters complain it is still patchy.
It will be some years before the network links to the northern airport, for instance.
There's been an enormous delay to the development of public transport, said Blanche Weber, head of the Luxembourg Ecological Movement pressing for better links on environmental grounds.
Systematic and continuous investment is a sine qua non (essential) condition for promoting the attractiveness of public transport, admitted transport minister Francois Bausch.
Sales of tickets on the domestic network -- which cost two euros per journey -- previously covered just eight percent of the 500-million-euro cost of running the transport system. That shortfall will now be met from the treasury.
Ticket machines are to be gradually removed from stations, but offices selling tickets for international train trips and for first-class seating in Luxembourg -- which continues to be a paying service -- will remain.