Social and financial inequalities in the availability of public transport in selected capitals of Polish voivodeships

The aim of the article was to determine the scale of the impact of the financial barrier in public collective transport (hereinafter: PCT) in selected local government units and to compare selected voivodeship cities – metropolitan centers in terms of the mobility policy applied in the financial aspect. The study aims to identify differences in transport accessibility based on the relationship between ticket prices and residents’ incomes and to examine the potential effects of eliminating fees for public transport use on reducing social inequalities. Moreover, the aim was to benchmark selected voivodeship cities – metropolitan centres, in terms of the applied tariff policy within the framework of public transport (hereinafter: PCT) in comparison with the disposable income of the population. The research problem was the affordability of public collective transport in selected LGUs. 9 out of 10 largest Polish cities in terms of population. So far, none of them has implemented unconditional free public transport. Therefore, there is a financial barrier, which in the case of the lowest-earning residents, makes it difficult to meet current life needs. The analysis was carried out in mid-2024 based on data from the turn of 2023/2024 and selected, from 2022, mostly from public statistics, including the Central Statistical Office (Polish: GUS). Polish and foreign literature and industry press were used. The own study was based on information from LGUs and their communication companies. Finally, the analyzed cities were categorized in terms of the adopted criteria. It can be stated that the lack of fees for using PCT will translate into a reduction in social inequalities in a given LGU. The scale of this change cannot be determined ex-ante, and therefore the effectiveness of such a policy cannot be estimated. As part of the benchmarking, the studied group can be divided into three categories in terms of financial accessibility: highly accessible (Gdańsk, Kraków, Poznań), with average financial accessibility (Lublin, Szczecin and Wrocław) and with low financial accessibility (Białystok, Bydgoszcz and Łódź).