Estonia, Tourism, Transport

Single ride tickets will be replaced by one-hour tickets. The price of a one-hour ticket bought from the bus driver will remain the same, that is two euros. Instead of the current 1.1 euros, the price of a one-hour ticket when purchased with a Smartcard or contactless bank card will be 1.5 euros, while the price of a one-day ticket will rise from the current three euros to 4.5 euros.

The price of a one-hour discount ticket will be 75 cents instead of the current 55 cents. Starting from the new year, the price of a three-day ticket will be 7.5 euros instead of the current five euros, while the five-day ticket will cost nine euros instead of the current six euros. The price of a 30-day ticket will rise from the current 23 euros to 30 euros, while the 30-day discount ticket will cost 13 euros instead of the current 8.5 euros.

A new product that has been developed is the conference ticket, which will be valid when the organizer of an event has applied for the right of participants of the event to use public transport for free. The participants will be given tickets with a unique code, which must be validated upon entering a public transport vehicle.

The audio signals of the validators will also change -- one long signal will mean successful registration of travel rights. Two short signals will mean that there is no right to travel on the card.

Starting from the new year, it will be possible to buy the QR-ticket, which is meant for tourists, from ticket machines installed at Tallinn Airport and the long-distance bus station, while ticket machines will also be installed at the Balti Jaam train station and the A and D terminals of the passenger port.

Registered residents of Tallinn, pre-school children and disabled people will retain the right of free travel to the island of Aegna. A one-way ticket to the island will start to cost four euros, while a return ticket will cost six euros. The price of a one-way discount ticket for students and the elderly will be two euros, while the discount price of a return ticket will be 3.8 euros.

Deputy Mayor Andrei Novikov said in a press release that the last time that the public transport ticket prices in Tallinn were changed was in 2012 in connection with the implementation of an electronic ticket system.

"The number of public transport users as well as route carriage volumes have increased significantly during the intervening years. At the beginning of this year, Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS extraordinarily took over the servicing of 11 existing bus routes and we also opened new bus routes in the second half of the year," Novikov said.

"This way, we have improved and expanded the possibilities for public transport users, while continuing to provide city residents with free public transport, including free travel on Elron trains within Tallinn. Although Elron has also raised its fares in recent years, we have kept our ticket prices at the same level, and even now, after the rise in ticket prices, they are still below those of some other medium-sized cities," the deputy mayor said.

The new ticket prices are subject to approval by the Tallinn city council.