The price hike was put forward on Wednesday in a budget proposal by the governing centre-right majority in Stockholm County, made up of the Moderates, Centre, Liberal, Christian Democrats and Green parties.
The proposal that grabbed the biggest headlines in the Swedish capital was the bid to increase the cost of public transport operator SL's 30-day travel card by 40 kronor to a total 930 kronor (approximately $95).
The increase would come into effect on January 2nd, 2020. Discounted monthly travel cards, which include tickets for pensioners, students and people aged under 20, would in turn increase from 590 to 620 kronor.
A standard single ticket in Stockholm would cost 37 kronor if bought using an SL pay-as-you-go travel card (reskassa) or 50 kronor if you buy the ticket from the bus driver or at the turnstiles without reskassa. Discounted single tickets would cost 25 kronor or 34 kronor for students, pensioners and under-20s.
SWEDISH VOCABULARY :
SL eliminated its zone system two years ago, so a journey within the Stockholm region costs the same, regardless of whether you travel from T-centralen to Slussen (a two-stop journey on the subway or tunnelbana) or from Stockholm City to Nynäshamn (a journey of around one hour on the pendeltåg commuter train).
The price is expected to continue to increase by 20 kronor a year in the future, reports Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, bringing it to 970 kronor in 2022 and more than 1,000 kronor before long.
The cash will be used to finance a major overhaul of the Swedish capital's transport system, which will see 60 kilometres of new tracks built – including the biggest expansion of the Stockholm metro in four decades.
Almost 900,000 travellers together make three million journeys every day on Stockholm's public transport, including the metro, commuter trains and buses. SL's operations are expected to cost around 22.2 billion kronor in 2020, of which 9.8 billion kronor will be tax-funded and 9.1 billion kronor funded by ticket revenue.
All budget proposals, including the opposition parties' budget, will be debated by the Stockholm county council in mid-November. You can read all proposals, when they are published, here (in Swedish).
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