This is why I was unexpectedly passing through Schengen a few weeks back!

A free train being cancelled and being late for work is slightly better than the one that I have paid for being cancelled and me be late for work

This guy speaks English, but his German accent has a French accent. It's really fascinating to listen to him.

“Okay” in European standards is “incredible” in American. Those trains look clean and they look like they don’t smell of piss. I’m jealous

One of the things I find exceptional about trains in Japan is that when your train is late, you can pick up a little late slip as you get off the train that to the nearest 10 minutes says how much you were delayed, and workplaces accept them as a proof of the delay not being your fault. If you try to arrive at work on time and then the train is 45 minutes late, then oh well, you just start work 45 minutes later that day. It's fantastic. If a train is late or unreliable, then it doesn't worry you nearly as much. This also means that the train network has pressure from businesses and by extension local government to operate well. The other thing of course, is that your workplace has to pay you back for your trains to and from work every month.

Luxembourg: The only country where people speak english with a French, German, Belgian and Dutch accent at once.

There's an irony in someone named "Carr" advocating for public transport.

That bloke from the Government is Luxemburg in one image: French accent, with german ways of speaking (individual mobility is a direct translation of Individualverkehr).

4:04 disagree i think free transit is brilliant for tourists when they can just hop on hop off without having to worry about the complexity of getting tickets. it makes a city more appealing to visit.

I'm really impressed that you got the Deputy Prime Minister / Minister for Mobility and Public Works for your video 😮 And it's a really nice video too

Transit that's "ok by European standards" = phenomenal by American standards

As a civil engineer in Luxembourg, I can tell you that if a train is late is most of the time due to works that are taking place on the luxembourguish train lanes, or train stations that are being increase. Luxembourg is investing a lot on new infrastructures and at the moment is in real good progress. Only in few years we will see and feel the result of those investements

When I went to Tokyo, I was blown away by their transit system. The trains were super quick and always on time. You could almost set your watch to them.

Luxembourg: Unreliable public transit for free UK: Unreliable public transit that will cost you a kidney every time it’s cancelled at the last minute

As someone who lives in the Bay Area, hearing that this transit system is merely “okay” makes me really want to hop across the pond

"It has happened that people are standing for an hour and a half on the platform, waiting for the train, with no substitute buses or anything. So, that's an extreme case, obviously" Canadian checking in, I was nodding along until "So, that's an extreme case, obviously".

I live in Poland and we have awesome public transport - even in smallest unimportant shitty villages you have bus/tram that will take you very close to where you want to go. like you could totally live in in other part of city/other town that you work/learn and not own a car. and also its free for elderly, and free to blood donors

As a Luxembourgish person, it feels so surreal watching a video and recognizing every location shown in it. I'm just absolutely not used to it. Honestly great work on the video, explains everything very great :)

Luxemburg: Public transit is now free UK: We want to make public transit cheeper US: Y'all have public transit?

“Ok by European standard” This is heaven by Mexican standard

Luxembourgians: Waiting an hour and a half for the train because of technical failure Me: Laughs in German

If ticket sales only covers 10% of the cost, getting rid of it will lose you even less. Cause you'll save money on not having to maintain a ticket system, checking passengers and so on.

I have to say that the trains are practically never late... They might be cancelled but not always!

Luxembourg be like: _Oh we'll give you a ride to work but we don't want you living here_ 😂

As a luxembourgish student, I have to take the public transport everyday. Before the new law of getting rid to pay for the transports, every student got a card called "schülerkaart" (students card) in wich a free transport was already included. It guaranteed a free transport inside the country of Luxembourg, you only have to pay for border-passing rides. Greetings from Luxembourg🇱🇺

4:54 thats the coolest stained glass window I've ever seen

2:32 "A lot of the rolling stock is dated" Lmao what? Most trains are air-conditioned, leaning, double deckers that are only 10-15 years old. The tram is literally brand new. The oldest trains on the network, used on some less-travelled routes, are from 1990. Doesn't London still use tube trains from the 60s?

2:25 Can we just all agree that those are the greatest seats ever found on a Tram.... THEY LOOK STRAIGHT OUT OF CYBERPUNK!!!!

For a second I thought I was watching in grey-scale untill I realised he's wearing a jumper and most probably wearing a red t-shirt underneath

Is there a country left in Europe that has not been graced by Tom Scott's presence lmao

The Canadian City Ottawa did it during decemeber 2021 as a"sorry our transportation has been so bad lately" kind of move and it was fantastic. Especially when it's super cold you don't want to be fumbling with your wallet or pulling cards out of pockets or bags when you got gloves on. It was so awesome to just walk onto the bus and have it take you somewhere

omg i’m from luxembourg and this video makes me so nostalgic for it with all the places i recognize 😭😭

"Waiting an hour and an a half for a train with no replacement bus services" ah so that's just Northern on a regular day

All this hand-wringing about how it's not perfect and I'm standing here like "Wow this is better than anything in my country and it's free"

Awesome work as usual, Tom! I like how this video shared the benefits, drawbacks, and motivations of this idea and showed how much more complicated things can be when we start looking into them.

Your videos, LITERALLY could not be any better, they are so perfect, love them, thank you.

"cancelled trains, delayed buses" - sounds like Yorkshire public transport but without the sense you're being ripped off.

This country is soo small I know exactly where every shot was taken. Yes, I live there

i just returned from a trip to luxembourg and i must say, i really liked the free transport, me and my classmates were able to travel whereever whenever. it could be better, but it is a great start

I love how these videos are so similar to the boring ones you had to watch during geography class and it was so boring. But then 10 years later as an adult it's absolutely fascinating.

2:32 "lot of the rolling stock is dated" shows footage of a trainset made in the '90s. Heh, that is "fairly modern" by the standards of Hungarian railways.

This is a cool decision and all and a great enviromental move... But I'm more impressed that Tom has the leverage to get an interview with the Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

So I‘m actually luxembourgish and our public transport is evolving so much lately. One main problem I always figured is that, depending on where you live, busses don’t pass by that often a day. Recently this is changing though, as there are more bus lines coming up and they start to drive more frequently. It sure has happened that a bus was late or just didn’t show up, but I‘ve been in Germany now for a few months and this happens way more frequently here. Also it’s still better to miss a bus u didn’t pay for. So I‘d say that overall we can be really happy with our system even though it clearly isn’t perfect, it’s getting better. (Also for all those who commented on how clean busses and trains look: yes they are clean, no they usually don’t smell of piss, are you all okay..?)

Bro in the office has a watch on each arm. Legend.

The American in me is just happy to see those strange track-riding busses

As a Luxembourger, it's so strange to see these places in a video like this. Ususally slip under the radar!

I can see there have been a few comments already from people living in Luxembourg, but I would like to add my two cents here: As a student, public transportation was already free for me before the reform this video is about, but it's still great. Buses and Trains being late is way less of a problem than this video makes it out to be, in years of using public transportation almost everyday, I have had only a couple bad experiences; and none of them awful. Buses and trains are clean, you have an app to track delays and to give you the shortest route from points A to B. In thr capital itself, there are electric bike renting stations every few hundred metres, which makes transportation incredibly flexible (although here I have to say that the annual subscription for the bikes is 18€, a very small amount but not free nonetheless). All in all, I think public transport in Luxembourg is great!

Me: Sees title and clicks on the video to find out my question Video begins: "Luxembourg is a small country." Me: Why can't youtube videos be this direct?

With less private cars on the streets, the chance buses to be on time will become higher and higher

Hi, I am from Luxembourg (even born there), now I am 25 years old, and I have to say the Luxembourg public transportations is good! I live in almost the northest place of Luxembourg 5min by car to the nearest trainstation (Drauffelt), where during the week at least 2 times the hour a train goes to Luxembourg city. the journey to the Kirchberg (where the European buildings are located) takes by car 50 min in the weekend and by train + tram 60 min. With the car you need still to find a parking spot and pay for it, excl petrol price! Unfortunatly I need my car during my job, else I would for sure take the public transportation to my work! For my hobby I try to use it at much as possible 😉 What tourist often think, the cancelations and delays in their country are the same in Luxembourg, but that is not! the most train traffic systems are in abroad ring formations, in Luxembourg, because it is small and geological not easy to do that, is here the train system a star formation, where the main point is in Luxembourg city. From here there is going f. ex. line 10 is the northen line and will not loop back. If you cancel here a train, the whole line is blocked, so that won't work. the trains are often delayed (5-15min), but not cancelled! the bus system is going to be improved in the next few years. there are driving already more busses since two years, so this system will changing still and smaller towns like will get also better conections! What we have in Luxembourg too, and not mentioned is, night busses. Because here are a lot of small towns (for you very small towns, with a few hunderds people living) so to go to a party, you have to switch towns. there are three types of night busses: night navette, night rider and late night bus. night navette is a line what only travelles during the outgoing times night rider is a taxi, where the most towns it is free to use. I pay 75€ a year to order this taxi bus for a whole for free. I can order this bus like a taxi from 6pm until 6am in the weekends. It doesn't matter how often or how far I use it in a year. late night bus is only driving for the bigger partys or concerts. this bus have a specific route, where you can enter on a bus station and you will dropped off around 10pm on the party and the bus will go back at 1:30am and 3:30am (partys has to close at 3am) this bus is also free and is there that the people don't drive and drink. if you take this bus, you get often even a free drink sponsered by the organisation! I am proud to live in this luxery country who can afford free transportation for everybody, even for dissabled people, who need a special bus (Adapto)

I went there for a student exchange, back in 2022. I remember when I was with a group of around 20 people, and we all rushed to the train because it was about to leave. Immediately, I thought "okay, this is going to get really awkward because there's 20 of us without a ticket". Then I found out that public transportation in Luxembourg is free, and it felt so strange to me. It was a nice experience

In UK buses and trains are getting expensive year after year and they are rare on time.

3:12 An hour and a half is an extreme case *Laughs in Indian*

To be honest though, it's very rare that busses or trains would be cancelled in Luxembourg. It's only happened to me a 5 or 6 times in my entire 18 years of living there even though I've nearly always used public transport (and regularly). Although it is true that the busses are often late, they are late nearly only during rush hour, which is absolutely a problem but not the worst problem in the world (and if I would travel via car I'd still be stuck in traffic, just for less time)

How did I not notice that you released a video about the country I live in. It's great to see it have some coverage like this!

There are amazing small countries worldwide where the average life is just much calmer and happier.

I love the contradicting sources, gives the entire picture. Thanks Tom!

It's the last time anyone will say "my train was cancelled - I want my money back"!

What’s “okay” by European standards is “Really nice” by American standards

In Gothenburg there is practically a very inticate network that is close to being "from anywhere to everywhere". The region around called Västra Götaland has the same transit company, and shares the rails with the national railway company. Now, they are not free, and the prices have gone beyond the costs of owning a car, but at least in GBG the parking is a nightmare in which it is sometimes preferable to take public transportation. Within Västra Götaland, should a train be overly delayed there are alternative trains to take, or bus-jumping. Outside this region (like to Stockholm) is trickier. Should a rail line have problems and trains are canceled the whole day bus substitues will be brought in. We do have "express" trains that are 20% faster than the regular, but most often 20% dekayed. ;)

"it has happened that people are standing for an hour and a half on the platform, waiting for the train." Compared to parts of germany, those a rookie numbers.

I have to say, this is one of Tom's better videos despite the lack of pizazz. I think it makes a very good point about public transport that all countries need to take into account: Make it reliable, and they will come. It's one of the primary ways we can fight climate change and we need to take the right approach at it.

Hi! Sending lots of love and hugs from Estonia 🇪🇪 it's not often our small country is mentioned somewhere 😊🤗❤️

People wait 1:30 hrs for the train, "that's an extreme case of course" *laughs in Italian*

I wonder if this actually saves them money since there fees were so low already. Considering they can save on ticket guards and the running and maintenance of ticket machines.

As a citizen of Luxembourg it’s cool to see this subject covered!

Greetings from Luxembourg! We are very grateful for free transport!

That point at the end was just ... awesome.

"It has happened that people are waiting for an hour and a half on the platform for a train." Laughs as a Canadian who literally had to wait 13 hours for my train to show up.

that's it i'm off to luxembourg. as someone who can never drive for medical reasons, this is damn brilliant!

As a Transport Management and Urban Planning major, I agree with everything you said in this video!

In Germany we had the 9€ Ticket a month, for three months in summer 2022. It was a great succes but it showed us that the whole system is low funded and not reliable. But for P.t. the high price for fuel is a great Chance to bind customers.

Luxenbourg: "Waiting 1,5h on the train without substitute is a extreme case" The Swedish rail transport: "Hold my beer"

As someone living there I can totally agree with the “alright” aspect. Transport is free for most people already I.e students

When I lived in Lux, having free public transport was literally life-changing. I'd stop halfway through my journey home for a coffee or some shopping, get back on the tram 2 hours later and not have to pay again. And when you're feeling lazy, it's great to get the bus for only one stop. In countries where you have to pay, I'd always rather walk than pay for 1 stop

I was in Luxembourg last month for work. The transit was running great -- not too crowded, always seemed to be on time. But the cars were *way* thinner on the ground than in this video.

Well done, Tom! This report is thoroughly put together!

"No one ever knows, if the trains are voing to be on time." As a german with personal experience with the "Deutsche Bahn" (DB), I can totally relate to that statement.

Tom Scott dropping "post scarcity society" like a G would. Much respect

I've never heard Toom mention post-scarcity before. Would love to see more videos on the subject

2:15 Don't forget the cost of ticketing machines + people to check tickets/enforce it. It's likely cheaper for them to just make it free!

European country: *Exists Tom: I MUST GO!

Well done as usual. Our post-scarcity society in Star Trek had transporters and shuttles - instant (or nearly) travel. Which, interestingly, would mean I could live in Bali and work in downtown London without all the hassle. Well... if you don't call getting atomized by the transporter and re-materialized in the other end a "hassle" :D

This is to be applauded! Public transport in many places is significantly more expensive than the direct cost of driving. I gave up on DC metro after three years of paying exorbitant ticket prices, dealing with surly staff and increasing delays. Driving just made more sense, especially when I could share it a few days a week with colleagues. I feel that in general, free transit will maximize its use and is helpful to lower incomes. Incomprehensible why this is not applied in other countries. Recovering the cost of transit through fares is usually a complete non-starter as rail based transit is simply too capital intensive. Trying to do so disadvantages lower incomes and does not maximize transit use. Kudos to Luxembourg for being this pragmatic!

Tallinn, Estonia is still the biggest city in the world with free public transport.

If anyone has read about dan ariely, remember his talk about the magic of zero to us? Luxembourg will see a lot of improvement in their traffic system, which then has ripple effects on other systems

Wow so many good arguments being mentioned here are so incredibly relevant to the current situation concerning public transport in Germany. Politicians are discussing national tickets and their prices, but the system and trains themselves are so outdated and in dire need of service that the maintenance will be going on for years to come

Lady at 3:09: No one ever knows if the trains are actually going to be on time Me: *laughs in Trenord*

At the very least Luxemburg is actually investing in public transit (like building a new Tram system and upgrading the rail network). Usually „free“ transit is oftentimes just mentioned as the be-all end-all solution of transportation but actually ends up harming investment in infrastructure and thus doesn’t really accomplish anything. If Luxemburg succeeds with it, it‘ll be down to increased investment in frequency and reliability rather than the fact of it being „free“.

In the UK you wait an hour and a half for the train, do the whole journey standing up and pay through the nose for the privilege.

@4:39 down the street to the right, is the Hostelling International hostel for Luxembourg City. I stayed there in 1994 and again in 2004.

Hey I only now found you! Nice videos, worth to watch, thank you!

So I live in Luxembourg and I haven't even seen you and now I'm sad. The country is so small that the chance of not meeting you is probably smaller than actually doing so 😭

I am from Luxembourg, The main reason people use their car instead of the bus is because the smaller villages (and there are many of them) around the capital are badly connected to the city centre. Often, there is only 1 bus an hour and the last bus runs at 9 pm so if you are going out with friends, you literally cannot get home on public transport.

I like how this video give 2 different opinions about free public transit and closed by amazing monologue.

i love how the international belgian train was passing in the intro

I live in Luxembourg and commute and can tell you that on my route the bus is on time every day! We live in a rural location but there are public buses 3 times a hour all day long and special night buses at the weekends transporting people back to the villages at 1 and 3 am from for city. This night service was always free. Great for the parents of teens.

There's a lot of admin costs with tickets, from ticket inspectors, machines, databases, etc. Surprised you didn't mention that. Increasing tax by 1% doesn't change admin costs for HMRC or equivalent.

Washington D.C. and Kansas City are the latest American cities to offer free mass transit. Other cities such as my hometown, Denver, offer free rides during peak air pollution months.

The point about improving the reliability of services is so true. In my city (Heraklion, Crete), the city introduced three free minibus routes into the city centre (park and ride). They have won people over because the services run like clockwork, leaving the terminus at specific times. You can time when to arrive and park, avoiding any wasted time waiting. Far more reliable than the regular paying bus network.