The open-air central bus station in Dunkirk feels like a Formula 1 pit lane. In the space of a few minutes, a dozen pink, green and blue buses speed in and out, with passengers descending and mounting through all available doors. The arrivals board, displaying destinations such as Grande-Synthe, Cappelle-la-Grande and Malo-les-Bains, ticks over so quickly it’s as if drivers are vying for a podium spot. As the C4 bus pulls in, a teenage girl with chunky headphones and a mother with a baby in a stroller are among those to board. But there are no beeps registering cards, nor the clink of coins used to pay for tickets. Because in this northern French city, no passenger pays. Dunkirk has made all buses free to ride.

“It’s not bad, really not bad,” says Theo, a 23-year-old gardener in the city and a daily user of the service, in typical French understatement, regarding Dunkirk's decision to make every bus free. “You never have to wait long. There’s less car traffic and less pollution because of it. And it’s free.”

In 2014, Dunkirk made the decision to get on board with free public transit. Mayor Patrice Vergriete, who has a doctorate in urban planning, pledged during his election campaign that the city would become the largest in France to drop fares on local networks. Today about 150 vehicles — labeled “100% free bus, 7 days a week” — crisscross the city and its surroundings, giving 200,000 residents free access to 18 routes.

“We made this decision to prioritize freedom [for residents] and really create a shock to improve mobility in Dunkirk,” says Jean-François Montagne, the deputy mayor of Dunkirk and head of the region’s ecological transition efforts.

Proponents like Montagne say that making public transit free reduces carbon emissions, air pollution and traffic, and supports low-income households. They also argue that a funding model that relies on government subsidy rather than passenger fares is more resilient in the face of shocks like pandemics. But critics say that there are high costs linked to these policies — and that scaling them up to sprawling metropolitan hubs and making every bus free to ride, just as New York City’s new mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged to do, is unlikely to be a smooth ride.

Read the full article about free buses in Dunkirk by Peter Yeung at Reasons to Be Cheerful.