Just €3. That’s how much it’ll cost to travel the 692km from Bregenz to Vienna, or Salzburg to Kitzbuhel, or anywhere else in Austria on its trains or buses, including in cities. That’s thanks to the country’s new Klimaticket, or climate ticket, introduced to encourage people out of cars and onto public transport as part of carbon reduction efforts.
The pass isn’t daily but annual, so Austrians will have to shell out €1,095 in advance when Klimaticket is introduced later this month, though early takers will get a 15 per cent discount. “It makes commuting by train cheaper in most cases, especially for those with long distances, and is very easy to use,” says Ulla Rasmussen of Austrian mobility campaign group VCÖ. “Furthermore, we expect more people to choose public transport for their leisure activities and inland holidays since they then don’t have to buy additional tickets. Thus, the Klimaticket is not only cheaper, but also easy to use.”
Where can you travel for £3 a day in the UK? You’d probably get furthest with a Megabus ticket – London to Bristol is available at £2.95 for the three-hour journey – but that’s only one-way, and you’d still have to get to the pick-up point. London’s all-day transport pass ranges from £7.40 to £19.30, depending on how far you want to go. So €1,095 will sound cheap to Brits paying an average £3,144 on annual rail passes to get to and from work via a specific route, let alone cover their weekend jaunts or holidays.
What would it take for the UK to introduce such a scheme? It’s not impossible, says Matt Finch, UK policy manager at Transport & Environment — but it’s not very likely, either. Austria’s network is heavily subsidised by the government and any further reduction in fares inherently means taxpayers are making up the difference. “The reason it’s so cheap in Austria is because it’s been virtually completely funded by the taxpayer,” Finch says. “Here, we’re a lot further the other way.”
Like the UK, Austria does have private ownership of some public transport operators. And, the UK train network is, hopefully, getting a bit less chaotic thanks to the creation of Great British Railways, a new public body to simplify the rail industry, which will control fares and timetables. “We’re in new territory at the moment,” Finch says.
That’s just trains. Buses are a different situation, with private operators managing services across the country, adding another hurdle to a British Klimaticket. However, local bus services could get a lot easier and cheaper to use. In Manchester, mayor Andy Burnham wants to have a single ticket to access all city-wide transport, across different bus companies and trams, while Yorkshire’s Transdev bus operator will offer a flat fare of £1 for evenings this year to convince Christmas shoppers to leave their cars at home. A flat fare is also being considered in Cambridgeshire to encourage bus travel.
Rather than focusing on a nationwide ticket, the UK could achieve better uptake of public transport – or just help networks recover from COVID – by slashing prices. Finch doesn’t think we’ll ever get a £3-a-day ticket – “I’m amazed Austria has even done it” – but fares could use reworking, freezing and reducing. While a £15 rail ticket from London to Edinburgh could lure people away from flying, for the most part Brits are facing another round of sharp fare rises, a move that will only further entrench commuters who switched to cars during lockdown to keep driving. And that trend isn’t new. “One of the problems is that over the last 15 years at least, fares on public transportation have risen every year with inflation,” Finch says. “And fuel duty has stayed the same.”
That means that rail and bus fares have increased, while the one factor into the cost of driving that the government can impact, hasn’t. “You’ve had a divergence between the cost of driving and the cost of public transport,” Finch says. “It makes driving cheaper versus public transport.”
The same holds true for air travel in the UK. “It’s inspiring to see Austria taking transformative action to make public transport affordable,” says Paul Tuohy, CEO at Campaign for Better Transport. “Meanwhile the UK government is considering increasing rail fares while cutting air passenger duty, a shocking combination which would make a mockery of our climate commitments ahead of COP26.”
Closing that gap is one obvious way to encourage commuters to leave their cars parked in favour of the bus. That could happen by slashing fares via subsidy; research shows that ditching fares does increase public transport use, though often winning over pedestrians or cyclists rather than drivers. Or it could happen by raising fuel duty, though that move isn’t exactly a vote winner, particularly in more rural areas where public transport services are limited or non-existent.
One of the local complaints against the Austrian Klimaticket is just that: taxpayers are funding services that not all of them can use. As the The Financial Times notes, the Klimaticket is expected to cost €150 million annually, with a transport spokesperson for a rival party saying price isn’t the reason Austrians still drive cars, but a lack of public transport coverage in some regions. “Next and essential steps would be to expand the network and increase the services, especially in the regions presently poorly serviced,” says VCÖ’s Rasmussen. “Furthermore, bike- and carsharing options should be included in the Klimaticket to make it a broader mobility system.”
And that’s the real issue at the heart of the Klimaticket: Austria already has excellent public transport takeup, among the best in Europe. Encouraging better use of mass transit is sensible to help meet sustainability policies, but both Austria and the UK could do with better investment into so-called active transport – what the rest of us call cycling and walking. “The government committed £50 billion to road building, and building new roads induces demand, which means more cars will drive on new roads,” Finch says. “And that could go a long way for cycleways or investment into public transport.”
If the point is to get people out of cars, we’re going to have to try many different ideas – and it’s going to cost some of us more money. “We sorely need to rebalance transport pricing in this country in favour of greener modes,” says Tuohy.
Which brings us back to Austria. Beyond the Klimaticket, the country is also investing further in night trains and introducing a carbon tax. Here in the UK, we don’t just need a €3 country-wide ticket, but simpler, cheaper fares paired with congestion charging, pricier parking and more expensive petrol taxes, alongside investment to improve rail, bus and active transport infrastructure could eventually make a dent. It’s going to take more than €3 tickets to get us out of cars.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
