On Monday, 7 November, Riga City Council’s Transport Committee supported the Riga public transport ticket reform, which provides for a significant increase of ticket prices.
The price of a single-trip ticket will be increased by nearly 74% – from EUR 1.15 to EUR 2.
Instead of 135 existing ticket types, only six will be kept.
Residents will be able to purchase single-trip tickets for EUR 2. Two time-limited ticket options will be adopted – a 90-minute ticked, which will cost EUR 1.5 and a 24-hour ticket, which will cost EUR 5.
A three-day ticket will cost EUR 8, a five-day ticket will cost EUR 10, and a month-long ticket will cost EUR 30.
Major changes will affect monthly-tickets, the price of which will drop from EUR 50 to EUR 30.
This is meant to equalise Riga’s situation with other Baltic capital cities.
Existing discounts will be preserved. These include the 50% discount for month-long tickets for students, teachers and medical personnel.
This also means that for certain categories of passengers, such as teachers and students, public transport services may become more expensive. For example, currently a single route month-long ticket is EUR 10, whereas a month-long ticket for work days only costs EUR 8. From now on there will be only one month-long ticket option, and it will cost EUR 30. With the 50% discount for aforementioned groups of people the price will be EUR 15.
Public transport company Rīgas satiksme JSC explains that there aren’t many passengers that use such tickets.
Changes will not apply to passengers provided with 100% discounts. This means seniors, children and disabled people will be able to continue using public transport services in Riga free of charge.
The 100% discount for working pensioners will be a novelty in Riga.
As deputies were informed by Rīgas satiksme board chairperson Džineta Innusa, by increasing the price of a single-trip ticket, it is possible to come close to the total cost of a single trip, which is currently at EUR 2.04.
She stressed that the existing public transport fare system is complicated. No one knows about all of the 135 existing ticket types, and there are some that are rarely used.
Simplification of the system would allow the company to better plan routes, their connectivity and passenger transit.
Innusa hopes the change of approach towards ticket prices will help change passengers’ habits. She hopes the number of passengers who, up until now, were not able to afford month-long tickets will increase, so that they no longer have to catch rides for free.
If the structure of passengers does not change, adoption of a new ticket system would help increase Rīgas satiksme’s revenue by approximately EUR 1 million a year.
The new ticket system is planned to be adopted on 31 December 2022. This is done because public transport services in Riga are free of charge on New Year’s. This would provide three days for ticket booths to add changes to their databases and have the new system operational as early as 2 January.
Innusa noted that its is also planned to announce a 60-day test period, during which old tickets purchased before 31 December will remain valid.
As Riga vice-mayor Vilnis Ķirsis mentioned at a committee meeting, the new ticket system will be more economical for passengers who often use public transport services.
The final decision regarding the public transport ticket reform will be made by Riga City Council.
The head of the committee Olafs Pulks said there are plans to organise an extraordinary meeting to discuss this topic.