Analysis: this is how much an annual transit pass for Prague should actually cost

Prague’s administration estimates that an annual transit pass should cost 8,422 CZK, if inflation and growth in covered distance of the transit network over the past 20 years is taken into account.

The actual price that Prague residents will have to pay is now being discussed among politicians. The price will increase from the current 3,650 CZK, due in part to money lost because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Prague Public Transit Company (DPP) will lose about 1.7 billion CZK for this year. The lack of tourists led to both fewer single-trip tickets sold and fewer fines collected. Many Prague residents also did not use the transit system due to working from home.

The analysis also shows that if the price of the annual coupon were to increase only to reflect inflation since 2000, it would now cost 6,130 CZK. During the same time the average wage in Prague has increased from 17,422 CZK to 42,760 CZK. The price of the annual coupon over the past 20 years decreased from 3,800 CZK to the current 3,650 CZK.

The analysis was carried out by a team led by Prague Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr (Praha sobě), responsible for transport. The document was created when politicians were thinking about how much to increase the price of public transport.

It is not yet clear how much the price of the annual coupon will actually increase because the representatives of the coalition parties are still deciding on the topic.

Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), though, wants to reduce the price of a monthly coupon so that it is in line with the annual coupon. Many poor people can’t afford to pay for the annual coupon all at once and are penalized with higher prices for paying one month at a time.

Prague under the previous administration led by then-mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) reduced the annual coupon for public transport in 2015 from the original 4,750 CZK to 3,650 CZK.

The operation of Prague’s public transport last year cost about 21 billion CZK, the municipality subsidized it with about 17 billion CZK. Scheinherr pointed out that if public transport were to be financed only from the fare, the passenger would pay 18,000 CZK for an annual coupon.