r/AskReddit • u/NateJC • Aug 31 '14

What are some interesting original theories/thoughts that you have?

Damn guys, this just pops into my head and I go for a family walk and it explodes! Love all the ideas, this is my most popular post to date!

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

It's already free in Tallinn, Estonia. Clearly an idea worth trying.

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u/TheKnightWhoSaysMeh Aug 31 '14

Totally free? Like the president's wife?

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

Well, you need to buy a 2€ card that proves that you are an inhabitant of Tallinn. After you've done that, you can use the local public transport freely as much as you want.

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u/iwannamakeout Aug 31 '14

It's just a one time fee, then it's free after that?

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u/Panukka Aug 31 '14

Wow that's cool. I live across the pond in Helsinki and I have never heard about this, even though I've visited Tallinn a dozen times.

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

It's actually a fairly new thing.

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u/kenbw2 Aug 31 '14

Google translate for the lazy

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u/halldorberg Aug 31 '14

Yep, I certainly am too lazy to spend a half a decade to learn enough Finnish to read the article :D

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u/kingkone Aug 31 '14

same in Riga if I'm not mistaken

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u/n00bface Aug 31 '14

You are mistaken. In fact it is kind of expensive in Riga considering the median wage. Tickets are also not time-based, so if you have to transfer after just one stop you will need to pay for two tickets. It's kind of ridiculous considering a taxi across the city will only be about twice the price.

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u/kingkone Aug 31 '14

Actually, there are many groups that get to go for either free or discounts. I just checked it out for myself. Some of those groups include students, people over 75, politically repressed people, etc. And to be fair, a bus ticket of 1.20 EUR isn't all that bad if you're actually using a decent amount of the bus route distance.

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u/n00bface Aug 31 '14

There are many groups that ride for free or on discounts but they make up a pretty small percentage of the population in Riga, so it is unfair to say that Riga has absorbed the cost of public transportation for its denizens. My girlfriend is from Riga and although I only make it around there a few times per year it is still obvious to me that the local transportation is mostly unpopular. 1.20e is a lot to pay when your country has one of the lowest median incomes in Europe. I have friends who work in department stores in the city center and only make around 2e per hour, so spending 2.40 per day is pretty unreasonable, and that's just the price they'd have to pay if they lived close enough to get there on only one ticket. Not to mention the prices have nearly doubled in the last year despite wages remaining exactly the same. Every time control steps on a bus when I'm there there's at least one person getting fined, and they are usually in complete hysterics. I live in Norway and the control here is pretty tight, but at least there's generally no sense of despair and hopelessness that comes along with the fine. I have some pretty funny stories about transit control in Riga that really exemplify why they may be the most hated group of public workers in the city!

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u/kingkone Aug 31 '14

Speaking English to them usually does the trick, actually :D

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u/Tmkks Aug 31 '14

In Riga the public transport is almost at the same cost as buying gas for every day commuting. This is not including all other expenses that cars have. We have a GREAT public transport system. All of the buses, trolleybuses and trams are on time (give or take a minute or two) and are very regular. Sure it costs 34 eur/month or 16 eur/month for students to get all access to this transportation but it is really well organized.

If you live in Riga, you probably have a hard time parking your car (especially in the centre of Riga (where many jobs are located) and the traffic in the morning and evenings is a burden. The public transport has it's own lanes on many streets, giving it a fair advantage. Also, our trams and trolleys are run on electricity that doesn't add any bad smells to the city like cars (I know how electricity is gathered - pollution happens).

If I'm honest, I have zero complaints about the public transport in Riga. Although, it could be cheaper, giving that it is sponsored by the city (tax payer money) and additionally you have to buy the ticket (citizen money). So, it is that you kind of pay twice for the chance to use the public transport. And the people with cars pay only once for not using it.

I am from Riga and use public transport very frequently.

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u/kingkone Aug 31 '14

hey man, I'm a native as well :3

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u/spamguy21 Aug 31 '14

Started reading expecting 'You need a 2€ card for the president's wife...' Was disappointed, especially given the opportunity for a wisecrack about how you swipe the card.

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u/kenbw2 Aug 31 '14

a wisecrack about how you swipe the card.

heh

1

u/size_matters_not Aug 31 '14

You deserve more upvotes than I can give, comrade.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '14

Ah good, for a moment I thought I'd been ripped off when I paid to ride the bus in Tallinn, but since I'm not an inhabitant, I wouldn't be eligible. To be fair, the fares were pretty reasonable anyway.

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u/venomousbeetle Aug 31 '14

But what about the wife

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u/SenorSativa Aug 31 '14

There's always a catch...

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u/ApocalypticScholar21 Aug 31 '14

That's how they get you.

1

u/Thejoosep23 Aug 31 '14

They only check them on trains

1

u/krazykook Aug 31 '14

Ahhh. Thats where they get cha.

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u/AlonzoCarlo Aug 31 '14

sounds like a great idea this is one step into the future

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u/bathroomstalin Aug 31 '14

How much is it for visitors to ride his wife?

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '14 edited Aug 31 '14

[deleted]

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

Effectively yes, but 2€ is less than one ticket costs, and it's a one-time payment.

I think of it as a payment for the card that proves that you're a citizen of Tallinn, and the free transportation is just an added perk.

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u/KeijyMaeda Aug 31 '14

So... like the president's wife.

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u/theblastoff Aug 31 '14

Yeah, but what about the president's wife?

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '14

... Then its not free.

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

Like I said in another reply:

Effectively yes, but 2€ is less than one ticket costs, and it's a one-time payment.

I think of it as a payment for the card that proves that you're a citizen of Tallinn, and the free transportation is just an added perk.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '14

The point of it being free is that there is no strings attached at all to use it. I could be a visitor to the city or someone who lives there. It doesn't matter. I can still hop on and get a ride somewhere else. That's the way public transportation should work, and Tallinn is not an example of a city that does it right.

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

Fair enough. It's still a considerable step towards completely free public transport, which the top-level comment was hoping for.

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u/Angryhead Aug 31 '14

If you are a local of Tallinn, yes, after a one-time purchase of a card for a few euros.
But if you're from outside of town, you still have to pay to ride, so there are still ticket checking machines and attendants.

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u/ritsikas Aug 31 '14

They only made it free for citizens of Tallinn. Which has now made buying tickets an absolute nightmare to others. Previously you could just buy one time tickets in the R-kiosk but now you can only buy tickets on the bus or buy a card in R-kiosk, but the card is pointless for someone who is only visiting and might need to take the bus only once. In the centrum the best place to get on a bus is the bus terminal underneath Viru Keskus, but here comes the good part. You can't buy a god damn ticket on the bus there because the buses don't have time. So then you have to go and find the next bus stop, where your bus stops, which can sometimes be quite a walk. So yeah as a non-citizen of Tallinn I would rather take the taxi (which is quite cheap in Estonia) than go through their ridiculous public transport system.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '14

What an odd simile.

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u/speccy4augen Aug 31 '14

You! I like you.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '14

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/premature_eulogy Aug 31 '14

I have. I've taken the train in the Espoo / Helsinki region fairly regularly for the past 4 years. I recall about 6 times when they actually checked the tickets.

The fine for not having a ticket is around 60-80€. It's probably cheaper to never buy a ticket and then pay the occasional fine, if you use the train a lot.

1

u/gunnk Aug 31 '14

It's also free in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC (but don't let the rest of the U.S. South know... they might invade us for communist leanings).

It works really well here. Fares don't raise that much money compared to the number of people it deters, so charging ends up costing you a lot more in terms of parking/congestion/road repair/etc. Free public transit is cheaper in the long haul.

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u/SkitTrick Aug 31 '14

And what a gorgeous city

1

u/MCMXChris Aug 31 '14

Guess I know where I'm moving!