Vienna leads Europe in public transport satisfaction
The residents of Vienna are the most satisfied in Europe with their public transport. Only 25% of the people in this city use a car daily. What is the secret of Austria's capital?
25 October 2024 17:26
In 2024, Vienna was recognised as the "most liveable city in the world" by "The Economist" magazine. One of the criteria was the quality of public transport. In this regard, Vienna leads among all 83 cities in Europe included in the survey. The city has a population of two million, and about half of them have a public transport card.
Why can you walk to work in Vienna?
In an interview with the Euronews portal, Josef Taucher, a Vienna councillor from the Social Democratic Party, emphasised that an annual ticket for all means of public transport in this city costs only 365 euros. He stated, "It is €1 (£0.85) per day, and this has been the case since 2012. And it has a massive impact on climate protection."
According to city statistics, three out of ten people in Vienna use public transport, and over one-third of the city's residents walk to work. Only a quarter use cars on a daily basis. The most striking is the number of people walking to work. How is this possible? As many as 78% of Vienna's residents live in rented properties, often owned by the city. They can freely change their location to avoid wasting time commuting to work.
Vienna "pulls" residents from behind the wheel
This reduction in public transport stress means that those who have to use it do so in comfortable conditions. A recent survey showed a 91% satisfaction rate with public transport among Vienna's residents, placing it first among the 83 cities in Europe where the survey was conducted.
The people managing transport in Vienna are very sensitive to the psychological aspects of transport choices. Alexandra Reinagl, general director of Wiener Linien (Vienna Lines), the company managing the transport system, explained, "We added a few years ago, shared services such as shared bikes and shared electric cars to have an answer for the last and the first mile. You have to avoid people using their private cars even for a few metres because once they are in the car, they stay in the car." In this context, the last and first mile refers to the distance one needs to travel from home or workplace to public transport.
