Belgrade is set to offer free public transport to all residents from January 1, 2025.
“This proposal means no one will have to pay for a ticket anymore,” Aleksandar Sapic, mayor of the Serbian capital, announced on Wednesday.
The city of 1.7 million inhabitants is one of the few major European capitals without an underground system.
But it’s not the first to make public transport free in Europe – other countries like Luxembourg and Estonia’s Tallin have already done so.
heavy congestion on the roads
The density of cars in Belgrade is very high, with residents facing hours of traffic jams when moving around the city.
Sapik said the number of cars has increased by 250,000 in the last decade.
Even though the authorities have promised a metro system by 2030, the plan has faced several delays due to which the project is stalled till now.
Sapik also vowed to completely replace the city’s fleet of buses, trams and trolleybuses by 2027.
The Belgrade tram system has been in existence since 1892 and has a total length of 127 kilometres, circling around the city, making it one of the longest networks in Europe.
rm/jsi (Reuters, AFP)
