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Lisbon approved free public transport for young and elderly residents
The city of Lisbon has been dedicated to becoming greener and has started many different initiatives and projects to meet its green and sustainable goals.
The city of Lisbon, led by mayor Carlos Moedas, won the European Green Capital Award for 2020, because of the city’s successful journey towards becoming sustainable, especially during a period of economic crisis. By receiving this award, the city of Lisbon has become a role model for many European cities by demonstrating that sustainability and economic growth go hand in hand.
Lisbon is a city that is strong in the fields of sustainable land use, sustainable urban mobility green growth & eco-innovation, climate change adaptation, and waste management. The city is always trying to push toward innovations even further and, this way, become an even better city for its residents.
On April 23, the Lisbon city council approved a free public transportation measure in the Portuguese capital for young and elderly residents. This is the city’s new measure which is set to begin in June or July for those over 65 years old and in September it will begin for students up to the age of 23.
This measure represents the city’s effort to fight against climate change by encouraging more people to use public transport instead of cars, and by offering free public transport for children, students, and elderly residents it is pretty likely that the new measure will have a great impact on the city. The measure is set to cost around €6,266,000 in 2022, and for the period 2023 – 2025, it should cost around €14,900,000 a year.
This is also Lisbon’s new initiative that follows the footsteps of other European cities and is a great way for the city to become less polluted.
Mayor of Lisbon Carlos Moedas said this is a “historic day” for the city, stating that only two or three other European cities have approved such an initiative to fight climate change.
Carlos Moedas also emphasized how this measure has passed with his party’s majority in the city council, showing the “ability to do politics with everyone”. He believes “this is the most important measure” of his mandate that will “stay in the history of the city”, and that it will have a direct impact on climate change. (photo credit: Aayush Gupta/Unsplash)
