00:00They say there is no such a thing as a free ride.
00:04Well, in Belgrade, there is now.
00:08A big change for residents that's part of a bigger civic plan.
00:15This is part of a social program that we began to implement from the moment I became mayor.
00:20Belgrade has also introduced free kindergartens as well as many other socially oriented measures.
00:27It's hoped the impact of this scheme will be far-reaching.
00:35This free transport program creates many other potential effects,
00:39like reducing air pollution in the city and attempting to reduce traffic jams in the town center.
00:46By introducing free public transport, we aim to motivate people to use it more.
00:52Road congestion and traffic jams are a daily nightmare for the 1.7 million residents of Belgrade
00:59and the hundreds of thousands of daily visitors.
01:03Rapid development in the capital has resulted in a dramatic population increase.
01:09All these people need to go to commute to and from work,
01:13need to take their children to school, as well as get out and about on their daily errands.
01:19And the car is their preferred mode of transport.
01:23The consequence of all that traffic, well, sometimes it can be very frustrating.
01:30The city hopes to learn from other towns that have already introduced free public transport.
01:36They found that the new and well-maintained vehicles
01:39are key to getting people out of their cars and onto the buses and trams.
01:46We are giving credibility to these measures through the continuous renewal of the public transport fleet.
01:52We expect that by the end of 2025, there won't be a vehicle older than two years,
01:57and that has never happened in Belgrade.
02:00The big question is how much will this scheme cost?
02:04While the city won't give an exact figure,
02:06it says its entire public transport budget for 2025 is between 360 and 412 million U.S. dollars.
02:16The test now is to see if they can entice more people onto Belgrade's 1,300 buses, trolleys and trams.
02:25Aljoša Milenković, CDTN, Belgrade.
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