In the City of Tartu, public transport is currently free only for certain groups of people, such as those aged 65 and older and disabled people.

Ahead of this fall's local elections, the Center Party's mayoral candidate for Tartu, Anneli Ott, said public transport should be free for all city residents, just like in the Estonian capital.

She acknowledged that free public transport is often seen as a populist slogan but emphasized that it has clearly worked in Tallinn.

"It has brought more people to Tallinn, simplified people's everyday logistics and perhaps even reduced the daily need to drive a personal car to some extent," Ott explained.

EKRE's Tartu mayoral candidate Merike Lumi doesn't support the idea of completely free public transport, but she does agree it should be extended to include all school-aged children living in the city.

Social Democratic Party (SDE) Tartu mayoral candidate Elo Kiivet likewise said that not everyone needs free public transport in Tartu, pointing out that sufficiently good systems already exist to help those who truly need support for other reasons. She believes it should be free specifically for young people.

"Young people are a risk group," she noted. "Tartu is a university town, so this could definitely be extended to young people."

According to Isamaa's Tartu mayoral candidate Tõnis Lukas, the most important aspect of public transport is the quality of service.

"If we make it free, then we can't afford to pay for it from the city budget, and then there will be fewer routes, and we won't actually be solving the core issue," he warned, adding that there is a fine line between populism and real life that they don't want to cross. "So right now we're not promising free public transport in Tartu."

Tartu's longtime incumbent mayor, Reform's Urmas Klaas, also considers the development of public transport to be a top priority.

He said that the city should be looking into extending its city bus routes into neighboring municipalities — but this, too, requires financial investment.

"A copayment in the form of a fare is vital in any case, and it's important that it be maintained," Klaas said, adding that this money is further supplemented from the city budget.

Kristina Kallas, Eesti 200's mayoral candidate for Tartu, also doesn't believe in public transport.

"We've had enough of this kind of populism in Estonia already, and the result is that we're all suffering under tax hikes," Kallas said.

She noted that free public transport in Tartu would likely lead to a future land tax hike for city residents, "because it has to be covered somehow."

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