What if we traveled without hindrance, with a single ticket, from the metro to the TGV, from Paris to Mulhouse via Marseille? This is the idea of the Klimaticket, launched in Austria, which offers an unlimited ticket for 3 euros per day for all private and public public transport throughout the country. A craze that prompted Germany to test a fairly similar device this summer for 9 euros monthly. It remains to be seen whether the infrastructures will follow the dynamics. Throughout the week, Novethic explores the paths towards more sustainable tourism.
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“Welcome to the mobility of the future”. With its unlimited climate ticket at 3 euros per day, Austria prides itself on revolutionizing the way we travel. It must be said that the “Klimaticket” is a dream. Imagine taking a train from Paris to Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Strasbourg, from the metro to the TGV, with just one ticket? This is the idea of this ticket which allows you to use all Austrian private and public transport for 24 euros per week, or 1095 euros per year. Reductions of 300 euros are provided for young people and seniors.
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“The KlimaTicket Ö is more than just a ticket for all public transport. It is also the ticket with which we aim to achieve the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement together. Public transport is the ecological alternative to transport motorized individuals”note the designers of the ticket. “The more you participate, the better it is for the climate”. This decision, pushed by the Greens, was the subject of intense negotiations within the government. “It’s a great day for the climate and transport.”reacted the Minister of Action for the climate and the environment, Leonore Gewessler.
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A real enthusiasm
In a country where public transport is already popular and the rail network particularly developed, the climate ticket is already a success with more than 130,000 tickets sold just a few months after its launch in October. The promoters even propose that, from July 1, any subscriber can receive an additional month as a gift.
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In Germany, too, the idea caught on. In the country of the queen car, the coalition of Olaf Scholz is testing a monthly ticket at 9 euros in June, July and August. Beyond the climate ambition, the objective is also to relieve consumers in the face of inflation and soaring energy prices while Germany could enter a phase of rationing due to its dependence. on Russian gas. “There are two things you need before embarking on an initiative like this: network density and frequency of service,” However, Keith Barrow, editor-in-chief of the British magazine Today’s Railways Europe, tempered on CNN.
“Large-scale structural delays”
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As in Austria, this measure has aroused real enthusiasm. At the beginning of June, more than 6.5 million packages have been sold, according to Deutsche Bahn. The rail network even came close to saturation during the Pentecost holidays. Many users traveling with their bicycles were unable to access the trains and seats were scarce. Hence the concern of some experts: “Deutsche Bahn has not invested in the rail network for around 30 years, which is worth large-scale structural delays”writes on Facebook Alain Jund, Vice-president of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis in charge of mobility. “If this 9 euro subscription is a real added value for purchasing power, it will certainly not lead motorists to take the train”, he believes. In three months, the first conclusions of the experiments will be published.
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In the meantime, in France, several environmental NGOs are pushing to deploy this same system. In a column published in La Croix, Neil Makaroff of the Climate Action Network, proposes to launch a climate ticket at 3 euros per day allowing the French to take all public transport. “The inexorable old receipts, such as yet another check to help the French pay for their fuel consumption or aid for the purchase of a new vehicle, too often still gasoline-powered, are no longer enough to reduce our gas emissions to greenhouse effect and guarantee everyone the possibility of getting around”, he writes. It remains to be seen whether he will be heard by the new Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, who has long denounced the under-investment in rail as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Transport Infrastructure Financing Agency. of France (AFITF).
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