The Klimaticket, or climate ticket, is Austria’s new incentive for personal climate-friendly behavior. For only €3 a day, people can take unlimited rides on trains, trams, and buses throughout the country.
The Klimaticket was first proposed almost 15 years ago, after a government study showed that only 16 percent of journeys in Austria were made using public transport. That’s already a lot – the only country whose citizens ride the train more than Austria is Switzerland – but the Alpine country has higher goals in mind.
Austria’s 2030 Mobility Master Plan aims to reduce private car use to 54 percent or fewer of total miles traveled by 2040, and to increase public transport’s share of travel miles to 40 percent or better.
The new Klimaticket, which can be bought in monthly or annual passes, went live on October 26, 2021. Early bird sales, which were discounted, sold so strongly that the booking website was brought down several times.
The initiative to get the new ticket system underway was brought about by Austria Green Party Minister Leonore Gewessler, who is in charge of climate action in the country’s current government.
“I think you can see how happy I am,” she said after announcing the program. “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.”
With the single-ticket system, the country hopes to remove one of the barriers people cite for failure to use public transport – having to figure out which suite of tickets you need to get from here to there. Now a single ticket will take you anywhere in Austria.
“Klimaticket is an impressive political achievement” says Keith Barrow, editor of Today’s Railways Europe, commenting on the tight cooperation between the transport authorities of the Austrian provinces.
“The provinces have different politics, different geographies, and different priorities. Then there are municipalities and numerous public transport operators – 40 in the Vienna region alone. It is remarkable that all these different parties have managed to find common ground on this issue.”
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