County buses will be free to use for residents in 11 counties starting tomorrow Sunday. The system used will be similar to that of Tallinn, with passengers entitled to free tickets still having to register upon getting on their bus.
Starting 1 July, Valga, Võru, Viljandi, Põlva, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu, Ida-Viru, Hiiu, and Saare County are introducing free public transport for county residents. While they will still have to pay to use lines that cross county borders, all they will have to do is validate their free ride upon getting on their bus.
The data collected this way will then be used to determine how the network of bus lines should be changed or developed.
Four of Estonia's 15 counties have not joined the government's free public transport scheme. This means the situation will remain the same in Harju, Pärnu, Lääne-Viru, and Rapla County, though Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Kadri Simson (Centre) confirmed that they still have the option to join the scheme later on.
According to the Road Administration, passengers will use a travel card much like the one already in use in Tallinn to validate their trips. The cards can be bought either directly from the drivers or at other sales points and cost €2. To use their right to free trips, residents will have to pair up their travel card with their ID code.
“Weasel”, “snake”, “parrot”, “poodle”, “taxpayers”?, “milk”, “toes” : all the animal, organic and kinaesthetic imagery is bewildering. A conventional expectation is that language is appropriate when it suits your subject, conforms to the needs of your audience, and blends naturally with your own voice.
“Downstream” and “upstream” reporting: in context, what does this mean? What is each, and when and/or why are both needed, to formulate and assess impact in the development of policy and programs? The policy in question has reportedly been extended from Tallinn and has been under review across jurisdictions.
Jüri Estam06 Jul 2018 03:55
"Free" in this context is a weasel word. It isn't free at all. The taxpayers instead are actually picking up (or are being forced to pick up) the expense here. Sort of like the snake eating it's tail. The Center Party is behind all of this for political profit, not out of the milk of human kindness. How this actually works is that if you take a "free" county bus out of Tartu, the bus driver won't let you out within Tartu city limits even if you nicely petition him or her for a stop. Another bastard idea then that Bernie Sanders in his mansion in New England would surely whole-heartedly approve of. Free s*#t that isn't really free at all when you look at it just the slightest bit. And you're being digitally tracked and followed the whole time. Trade your privacy to Center Party's Big Brother then for your "free" trip that you and other people are actually paying for out of your taxes. This intentionally mislabeled packaging of a service that the taxpayer is funding as supposedly being "free" is actualy slippery and dishonest political profit sophistry (deceptive reasoning). Sneaky politicians along with such "journalists" who parrot the jive of the politicians instead of explaining the real story and the rest of the story to the public, not all members of which are used to critical thought or know what the Center Party is actually up to. So we cannot call this little feature a prime example of journalists serving the public well or independently. But then Estonian Public Broadcasting has a reputation for almost always being the poodle of the Party or coalition that happens to be in power at the moment. All reactive downstream reporting, nothing upstream that might be a couple of steps ahead of the politicians and keep them on their toes.