Abolishing Stockholm’s Public Transport Fares

Abstract: The decrease of car emission levels has stagnated in the latter years in Stockholm, Sweden. Since the city’s publictransit system is highly developed via its large access to areas located in the city’s outskirts, it could serve as a tool topartially replace the city's car traffic and reduce emissions. This study therefore aims to examine expected travelbehavior changes from a fare-free public transport system and investigate potential limitations when increasing thepublic transport travel degree in Stockholm. The theoretical background consists of the mode choice theory thatdissects the reasons behind travel habits, and the zero-price effect which explains the effects from abolishing priceswhen purchasing a service product. The methodological approach was conducted through a random probabilitysurvey conducted in a face-to-face mix mode survey interviews in outdoor environments and via computer-assistedtelephone interviewing. The data was then analyzed through MS Excel and SPSS to extract patterns and correlations.The results thereafter implicated preferences from the survey participants implying their desire to primarily reduce orabolish the public transport fares, which would lead to significant travel habits changes among the majority ofrespondents. This would result in a high number of both frequent car drivers and frequent public transit commutersthat would commute more by public transit and drive less.