One of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of living standards has cut the price of a public transport pass in half
Sweden's government announced on Tuesday that the price of monthly public transport passes will be reduced by 50% in the second half of 2026. The move, taken in the context of parliamentary elections in September, was described as a form of support for the population “in the worst energy crisis the world has ever seen”.
The temporary cuts come into effect on July 1 and are estimated to have a budget impact of 6.5 billion Swedish kroner (about 600 million euros), Education Minister and Swedish Liberal leader Simona Mohamsson said, according to Reuters.
Among the measures that had already been announced in Sweden to ease the effects of the war in the Middle East, where the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for energy shipments, is paralyzed by the conflict between Iran and the US, were a temporary cut in fuel taxes, refunds on electricity bills for households and support for airlines.
“We are going through the worst energy crisis the world has ever seen,” Energy Secretary Ebba Busch said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Sweden's right-wing minority government, which cooperates closely with the anti-immigration Democrats party, has reduced VAT on food since April.
In Stockholm, the subscription costs around 100 euros
In the Swedish capital, a monthly subscription for public transport costs the equivalent of around 100 euros. This includes metro, light rail, trams, buses and urban ferries.
For comparison, in Bucharest, a monthly subscription for metropolitan trips integrated with the metro costs 160 lei, i.e. around 30 euros, at today's exchange rate. According to STB, such a subscription allows the use of all means of public surface transport in the Bucharest-Ilfov Region and the metro.
In Sweden, the average gross monthly salary is 42,500 kroner, which is about 3,850 euros, Mobiletator, a platform specializing in recruitment and job search services in Europe, wrote in a material from the end of March.
In Romania, the average gross salary per economy was 9,902 lei (about 1,890 euros) in March 2026, according to data presented by the National Institute of Statistics on May 13. The net price was 5,938 lei (about 1,130 euros).
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