Prague City Hall discusses possibility of doubling price of annual public transport pass

Prague city council is discussing a potential increase in public transport fares, Deník N reported on Sunday. The coalition parties that form the city government have not yet agreed on how much fares should be raised by, but several possibilities are being discussed. One of the proposals on the table is doubling the price of the annual public transport pass, which currently costs CZK 3,650, working out at CZK 10 per day, one of the cheapest in the world. The price has not increased since 2015.

Deputy Mayor for Transport Zdeněk Hřib from the Pirate Party told Deník N he did not agree with the proposal, saying he wanted public transport to remain affordable for the residents of Prague.

In recent years, Prague has been grappling with how to ensure the financial sustainability of the city transport company, which suffered especially hard during the coronavirus crisis. Before 2020, passenger fares covered roughly 21 percent of the transport company's costs, while now it is only around 15 percent, with Prague covering the remaining 85 percent from its spending budget. In most other countries the share is closer to 50-50.