Romanian city rewards exercise with bus passes: Europe's summer of free public transport

Travellers completing 20 squats are rewarded with a free, one-way bus ticket. Photo / Sports Festival, Facebook

This summer European countries have been trying to get more travellers on public transport. Next month, Spain is making all intercity rail travel free to use and Germany has introduced an all-you-can ride €9 Fahrschein.

But Romania wants you to earn your fare.

The town of Cluj-Napoca has introduced a smart ticketing booth that will reward sporty citizens. It dispenses free bus tickets to those who can complete 20 squats in two minutes.

Available between the hours of 8am and 8pm the 'Health Ticket' is the creation of local marketing agency SYKES Romania. Those successfully completing the challenge are given a one way fare - equivalent to 2.50 RON ($1).

A similar initiative was launched in 2020 for European Sports Week, which resulted in 1 million squats and 55,000 free bus passes.

In Germany, uptake of rail tickets are up 42 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. Photo / Markus Winkler, Unsplash

The Sports Festival confirmed that the health ticket scheme would be extended from August 2022 until 1 February 2023.

Summer of free transport adds up

While a regional bus pass for Transylvania won't get you far, much of Europe has been joining forces to incentivise use of public transport.

From September to the end of the year travel across some services with Spanish state-owned rail-network, Renfe, will be completely free. Subsidised medium-distance inter-regional travel and multi-stop tickets will be available to Spanish citizens and tourists.

In May, Deutsche Bahn, the German national rail network, launched a €9-a-month ticket which runs from June until August. However the popular free-rail movement might have backfired. A report published by news agency DPA suggested that the scheme actually led to more CO2 emissions.

A report by the Berlin University of Applied science showed that rail use in June was up 42 per cent in June, compared to June 2019. In spite of the uptake, regional data showed that it had little effect on the number of car journeys taken.

Munich recorded a modest 3 per cent drop in car usage throughout the first month of the Fahrkart programme.

While overall the trial was described as a "win" German finance minister Christian Lindner said that the scheme would have to be reviewed and the benefits were distributed unevenly by access to rail.

It is unclear if the 9 euro ticket will be back next year, or if Europe's summer rail romance will be a one time fling.