Sweden eyes extended rights for commuters

The Swedish government wants to strengthen commuters' rights by guaranteeing reimbursements in case of delays, as well as better travel information from traffic operators.

The government submitted its law proposal to parliament on Tuesday. The law would give increased protection across the country to commuters using the national rail system, commuter trains, trams, buses or the subway.

"Everyone using public transport should have the same rights regardless of what company they use in Sweden," Minister for Justice and Migration Morgan Johansson said in a statement.

Johansson said that, currently, different traffic companies have different rules and that leads to poor protection for commuters.

The new law, which the government proposes should come into force on April 1, 2016, would guarantee the right to use alternative transport such as taxis in case of public transport delays of over 20 minutes. In case of delays of more than one hour, commuters could be fully reimbursed for their tickets.

Under the new law, traffic operators would also have greater responsibility for providing information about delays and accessibility. Those responsibilities would apply even if the delays were for reasons out of the operators' control, such as extreme weather conditions. Endit