Quibans 94: Transport in Luxembourg

This is a pre-coronavirus article about public transport in Luxembourg, from the BBC.

Free transport in Luxembourg, but what's the cost?

It has had months of hype and now finally Luxembourg's free public transport has begun.
With a population of only 614,000, it may be one of Europe's smallest countries and the idea is not unprecedented. But the "free mobility" drive has captured the imagination. Buses, trams and trains are now free to ride on and you don't need a ticket.

"The government wants Luxembourg to become a laboratory for mobility," says Mobility Minister François Bausch, who points to the grand duchy's fast-rising population, with a rise of 40% in 20 years.

Travelling on transport will be free for residents and visitors alike, except for first-class train passengers.

The price of the project will be the €41m (£35m; $44m) in lost ticket fares, but that will be shouldered by the taxpayer. "Of course, just because I call it free transport doesn't mean nobody pays," said Mr Bausch, who is part of Luxembourg's green party,

The total cost of running the service is more than €500m so the government sees the lost fare revenue as relatively small.

It was not exactly pricey before 29 February. A fare cost €2, and double for a day pass. Many workers have their annual travel pass subsidised in Luxembourg, so few people spend much on transport anyway.

Luxembourg spends more of its economic output on transport that most other European countries, with a reported €600 a year per person.

Questions:

1. What was the population of Luxembourg 20 years ago?
2. What is the exchange rate of the £ to the € , and the £ to the $ ? How can we use these exchange rates to work out the € to the $ ?
3. Using the cost of running the service and the population, work out how much it costs per person per year. What is strange about this?
4. Roughly how many public transport journeys are taken each year? How many per week?

Answers:

1. 614,000 divided by 1.4 = 438571, so the population was about 440,000
2. £1 = €1.1714 £1 = $1.2571 This means €1.1714 = $1.2571 , so €1 = $1.0732
3. €500m divided by 614,000 people is €814 each. Later in the article it says that it spends €600 per person per year on transport. (Presumably this includes roads as well. And airports?)
4. A ‘day pass’ used to cost €4 and brought in €41 million. Presumably most people made two journeys each day (there and back?). That’s about 10 million journeys. Dividing this by 50 (approx. number of weeks in a year) gives 200,000 journeys per week. If we were to assume that this is 100,000 people then only a small fraction of the population ever use public transport!

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51657085