The UK city set to launch groundbreaking £95m free public transport plan

For many people working in a major city can include quite hefty commuting costs.

But under a brand new scheme planned for Glasgow, Scotland, everybody living in the city could be zipping around on public transport totally free of charge.

Initially, a pilot scheme in Glasgow could see 1,000 people given free access to public transport for nine weeks.

Glasgow City Council has procured support to develop the pilot and the results would determine if there should be a wider rollout to all residents.

But there’s a big catch as money for both the delivery of the £250,000 pilot and wider scheme - which would cost £95.7 million for just nine weeks for all residents - is yet to be secured.

The ages of those who would receive free transport under the pilot are those between 22 and 59.

Each individual involved in the pilot would get a preloaded travel card for nine weeks.

This would give them access to buses, the Subway and local trains across Zones 1 and 2 in Glasgow.

A report on the study suggested: “The Zonecards will be preloaded with an initial four weeks’ worth of travel, providing unlimited access to all modes of public transport in Glasgow and more specifically contained within zones 1 and 2.

“Subject to completion of a travel survey after the initial four-week period, pilot participants will be provided with a further four weeks’ worth of travel, activated remotely by SPT."

“Upon completion of a further survey after this second four-week period, pilot participants will be rewarded with a final one week worth of free travel.” 

The results would then be evaluated to look at the pros and cons of providing free transport in the city.

Councillors have allocated funding to support the development of the scope of a pilot - however, there is currently no funding allocated for the actual delivery of it.

The study by Stantec also clarified that the reach of any such scheme will totally depend on funding.

It said: “The intention of the pilot is to provide a mechanism through which benefits and costs of free public transport can be captured and assessed, to inform future decision making and policy setting for potential wider roll-out of the scheme across the city on a more permanent basis.

“It should be noted, however, that this report focuses on the design of a potential pilot only, and the subsequent delivery of any pilot of free public transport would be subject to Glasgow City Council securing appropriate funding.”

Free public transport for everyone was introduced in Luxembourg in 2020 - including visitors.

Residents of Malta have been able to use buses for free on most routes since 2022.