Stockholm, Sweden: the halved cost of public transport proved a success, but not for the Tidö parties

In May 2026 I wrote about how the Tidö parties in Sweden have lied their teeth off to stay in power. They keep doing so, as I detailed in that post. Read this page to learn about the Tidö parties.

Part of what my blog post from May described the propaganda drive regarding public transport in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, where the price of a monthly SL card is currently half of what it usually costs.

The SL card is required to go on public transport. It's what most people in Stockholm use to get to and from work, see family, travel to buy things. Usually, it costs a bit more than 100 USD per month. Now, due to the propaganda campaign, it costs 50 USD per month.

So what happened? The Tidö government thought the act would lead to a temporary loss of money (but a raise in public support for the Tidö parties).

Not only could people who'd already bought SL cards at the regular price get reimbursed and buy a new SL card at the discounted price, but in July more than double the amount of regularly-sold tickets were bought and in August that number was a 69% increase. All in all, the Swedish government has made more than 148 million SEK (more than 15 million USD) in sheer profit from cutting the cost with 50%!¹

I believe the cost of the SL card is a class problem. 100 USD/month is a vast sum of money for a lot of people, and it simply means that some of us cannot travel where we want.

We can change the state where many of us cannot even afford to travel where we want, to see places beyond where we most often sleep.

Freedom of mobility is necessary for freedom of the soul.