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Cars and TransportationSerbia

Belgrade to make public transport free from January 1

December 19, 2024

The Serbian capital is set to make public transport entirely free for people in a bid to ease traffic congestion and delays.

https://p.dw.com/p/4oKzC
Old red tram in Belgrade, Serbia
Serbia hopes to ease car-clogged roads by encouraging people to use public transportImage: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Belgrade is set to offer free public transit for all residents beginning January 1, 2025.

The offer means "no one will have to pay for a ticket anymore," the mayor of the Serbian capital, Aleksandar Sapic, announced on Wednesday.

The city with 1.7 million residents is one of the few major European capitals without an underground system.

But it is not the first in Europe to have made public transport free — with others like Luxembourg and Estonia's Tallinn already having done so.

High congestion on roads

Belgrade has a high density of cars, with residents facing hours of gridlock as they move about the city.

The number of cars has increased by 250,000 over the past decade, Sapic noted.

Even though authorities have promised a metro system by 2030, the plan has faced many delays that have stalled the project so far.

Republic square, street view in Belgrade, Serbia
Belgrade will join Tallinn and Luxembourg in offering free public transportImage: Anka Petrovic/Anka Agency International/picture alliance

Sapic also vowed to fully replace the city's fleet of buses, trams and trolleybuses by 2027.

The Belgrade tram system has existed since 1892 and has a total length of 127 kilometers, twisted around the city, making it one of the longest networks in Europe.

rm/jsi (Reuters, AFP)