Green Fridays kicked off in Cluj-Napoca

How a city decided to reduce car pollution and give something back to the citizens

The "Green Fridays" initiative kicked off on 18 June 2021 in Cluj-Napoca and, every Friday, public transport will now be free. The campaign is called “Stop! Leave your car at home!” (“STOP! Azi mașina stă pe loc!”) and was born through a collaboration between Cluj-Napoca City Hall and the Cluj-Napoca Public Transport Company. Its main goal is to reduce traffic and pollution while increasing the number of passengers using public transport.

The “Green Friday” project aims, in essence, to promote the use of the public transportation system, which is equipped with an environmentally friendly fleet, and to increase the number of passengers. This should improve air quality and reduce noise pollution.

The initiative was set to begin back in April 2021, as TheMayor.EU reported, however, it was delayed until now. This is a clear continuation of the “health ticket” with its 20-squats-to-ride system which the city unveiled back in September of last year.

Notably, the cost of the “Green Friday” program will be covered by Cluj-Napoca City Hall, as the decision was made on 21 April 2021.

No tickets on Fridays

While in the initial discussion, a zero priced ticked was on the table eventually all sides agreed that it would be counterproductive to the aim of the program. After all, what they want is the maximum number of people to board and ride public transport.

Essentially, the Company and City Hall are trying to get people hooked on the idea of public transport with a free trial version. The question, though, is will they be able to retain the passengers throughout the week.

Here are a few things the company plans when it comes to the quality of its service:

• Continuous modernization of the fleet using the company’s budget as well as the city’s budget and by attracting non-reimbursable European funds.
• The gradual abandonment of diesel buses and the introduction of electric buses, trolleybuses and trams.
• Attracting more passengers by introducing free transport in Cluj-Napoca on the last working day of each week ("Green Friday").

This is the list of goals the project hopes to achieve:

• Reduction of chemical and noise pollution.
• Decongestion of traffic in the municipality.
• Reducing the use of cars and promoting the use of public transport.
• Reducing road accidents by reducing the number of vehicles.
• Increasing the available transport capacity of the public transport system by increasing the number of passengers.
• Reduction of costs per passenger transported.
• Reducing or even eliminating traffic jams.