The Urban Development and Mobility department (LISER) and the Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research (VUB) are pleased to organise a one-day symposium titled "To pay or not to pay – The role of fares in public transport". The symposium marks the end of the LiFT project, a bilateral project funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). The LiFT project focused on the policy of abolishing fares in public transport, otherwise known as fare-free public transport (FFPT). Although FFPT has become an established practice, discussed and implemented by policy-makers across Europe, it remains largely controversial and under-researched. The event will explore the transport, social, and political impacts of fare-free public transport (FFPT) in Luxembourg and beyond. This symposium will present the main findings of the LiFT project with a focus on FFPT in Luxembourg among others, as well as findings from a selection of other studies in Europe (e.g., the 9-Euro ticket in Germany, or FFPT in French cities) about the role of fares in public transport.

Agenda

• 09:00-09:15 | Welcome by Dr. Veronique Van Acker (LISER)
• 09:15-10:15 | *Opening keynote by Prof. Dr. Wojciech Keblowski (VUB) – Fare-free public transport as an urban policy: an international perspective
• 10:15-10:45 | Coffee break
• 10:45-11:45 | Thematic session 1 – Transport impacts of FFPT
  
  - Dr. Veronique Van Acker (LISER) – FFPT in Luxembourg: has it led to changes in mobility?
  - M.Sc. Martin Schlett (Technical University Munich) – Insights and lessons learned from studying Germany’s 9-Euro-Ticket and Deutschlandticket using a tracking study.
  
• 11:45-12:45 | Thematic session 2 – Social impacts of FFPT
  
  - Dr. Caroline Rozynek (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) – Imagine the financial barrier to public transport use disappears. The impact of the 9-Euro-Ticket on the mobility and social participation of low-income households with children.
  - Dr. Monika Maciejewska (Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona) – Little evidence on the social impact of FFPT policy. Some insights from Poland.
  
• 12:45-1400 | Lunch break
• 14:00-16:00 | Thematic session 3 – Governance and decision-making
  
  - M.Sc. Merlin Gillard (LISER) – The production of FFPT: governance, labor and policing.
  - Dr. Sonja Ruud (KU Leuven) – Giving up control: Devaluation of railway work in Luxembourg's fare-free public transportation system?
  - Mr. Roland Balcerzak (Communauté de Communes de Cattenom et Environs, CCCE) – Mise en œuvre de navettes expérimentales gratuites à vocation transfrontalière. (Note: this presentation will be in French)
  - Prof. Dr. Kobe Boussauw (VUB) – Shifting political views on the purpose of public transport in Flanders (Belgium): to whom is the bus considered essential?
  
• 16:00-16:30 | Coffee break
• 16:30-17:30 | *Closing keynote by Prof. Dr. Theresa Enright (University of Toronto) – Public, private, or common transportation?
• 17:30 | Reception

* Participation is free, but registration is required. *

* The opening keynote by Prof. Keblowski and closing keynote by Prof. Enright can also be followed online. Please register below to receive a Webex link.