Discriminatory bus fares for residents: only in Malta?

The investigation was prompted by complaints by Estonians who study but do not live in the country’s capital city, Tallinn.

Tallinn was one of the examples cited by Transport Minister Austin Gatt as another European country where bus fares discriminate against non residents.

But in February, ÜÜL, an organization of students representing Tallinn universities and higher education establishments filed a complaint with the European Commission against City of Tallinn’s new bus fares.

Under the city's new regulations and fare structure, discount fares in Tallinn will be available only for registered residents of Tallinn.

For instance, a 90-day electronic ticket that now costs 660 kroons (€42) for Tallinn residents, will cost 825 kroons (€52) for non-Tallinners. A regular fare remains 15 kroons (€1) for both categories.

Moreover, discounts for students, pensioners, parents of three or more children, and the children themselves can enjoy a free ride only if they have been entered in the Tallinn population registry.

The student organization claimed that the City of Tallinn violated several key principles of the EU including the freedom of goods, services and people when it on February 1 introduced a new system in which fares for students not registered as residents of Tallinn went up over 300%.

TÜÜL said it has asked the European Commission to initiate an action against the Republic of Estonia under the provision that the Tallinn City Council regulation violates the EU treaties.

From the examples cited by Austin Gatt in the past week, Talinn is the only city which clearly discriminates between residents and non residents.

Venice, another example mentioned by Gatt, offers discounted rates through the Imob stored-value card, formerly called "CartaVenezia," which offers huge discounts on public-transportation fares.

Until some time ago the card was only available only for residents and students. But the cards costing €40 and valid for five years can now be bought by tourists from HelloVenezia ticket offices.

A new line – reserved for holders of the Carta Venezia pass – was introduced in 2008 to lessen the impact of the estimated 20 million people who visit Venice each year on the city’s beleaguered residents, numbering about 60,000 in the historic centre at the end of last year.

“It's an extra service for residents who are forced bear the brunt of mass tourism,” said Mayor Massimo Cacciari.

Actually, even tourists can buy the pass and use the new line; but few do so because at €40 it does not represent value for money for day trippers.

Similarly London, another example cited by Gatt, offers discounted rates through the Oystercard, but this can be pre-ordered by tourists before visiting the UK.

Once in London tourists top up the card and use it just like any other London resident and at the same rates.

The discriminatory nature of the bus fare system proposed by Gatt was last week questioned by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil.

Busuttil who recalled a judgement issued by the European Court of Justice in 2008.

The court ruled that Italy was acting illegally by charging foreign pensioners while letting Italian pensioners in free.

“Admission to a member state's museums, which entails discrimination affecting only foreign tourists, is prohibited," judges at the court in Luxembourg said.

The European Commission took Italy to court after complaints from visitors. Italy argued that its citizens had paid taxes which helped maintain the sites, while foreigners had not. But the judges said arguments of a purely economic nature were unacceptable.

There was no direct link between any tax on Italian residents and the application of preferential admission rates to museums and monuments. "Italy infringed the community law principles of the free movement of services and non discrimination," the judges said.

The ruling does not mean that all EU cultural attractions have to be free of charge – just that whatever arrangements are made cannot discriminate on grounds of nationality or residence.