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Now you can travel from one end of Austria to the other using just one ticket. You can hop on a city tram to the railroad, crisscross the alpine nation, and even use a bus or metro to reach your destination. The best part is that all you need is one ticket to ride.
Austria introduced the KlimaTicket or climate ticket on October 26, 2021 that allows people to travel throughout the country on just one simple and inexpensive ticket. But the ticket is much more than just a gimmick to get people to use more public transportation. According to the KlimaTicket website, it is also a ticket to help Austria reach its Paris climate goals.
What’s KlimaTicket about?
Public transportation is already very popular in Austria, reported CNN, because there is a combination of highly reliable services of buses, metros, trams, and railroads. In fact, Austrian’s travel more kilometers on trains every year than all other Europeans except the Swiss. Only a small amount of travel is done by private automobiles.
What makes the KlimaTicket so special is its low cost, only around $3.50 a day. The annual pass is priced at €1,095 ($1,202). The ticket will actually reduce the cost of travel for commuters in Austria by €1,150 according to The International Railway Journal.
It took 15 years from the time the ticket was first proposed to become a reality in October. The last two years were fraught with heated debate and major compromises, according to CNN. It was spearheaded by Austria's Green Party minister Leonore Gewessler who oversees the environment, climate action, energy and almost everything green in the current government.
“This is a big day for the climate and for transport. If this summer has shown us anything, it is that the climate crisis has already arrived with us,” Gewessler said when she announced the government deal that was reached by the Federal Climate Protection Ministry and the Federal States of Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland.
Impacting the environment
The KlimaTicket is part of the Austrian government's plan to make the country climate neutral by 2040, reported CNN. To achieve this, there has to be a reduction of nearly 20 percent of private cars and a 30 percent increase in the use of public transportation. that’s what the all you can ride ticket is intended to help accomplish.
“One of the things I like about KlimaTicket is that it is valid on all modes of public transport, a concept that should be replicated elsewhere as it removes the hassle of having to find and buy multiple tickets,” European rail travel expert Andy Brabin told CNN.
“It is potentially revolutionary, removing some of the barriers to using public transport and making spontaneous trips much easier as you don't have to worry about buying tickets, which can often be expensive at short notice for longer journeys.”
While other measures are needed, like electrifying public transportation, it seems that the all you can ride ticket is already working to change the public’s view of transportation. When early bird tickets went on sale, there was such a huge response that the KlimaTicket booking website crashed. This is one step that other European countries could follow.
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