There has been a 9.5% increase in annual passes for public transport in Austria’s eastern region during the first half of 2024, the transport association Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR) announced on Friday.
According to VOR, which brings together more than 40 rail and bus operators across Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, there are now over 62,000 VOR KlimaTickets in circulation.
The VOR KlimaTickets, or climate tickets, come in two types. The KlimaTicket Region, which covers Lower Austria and Burgenland, costs €495, while the KlimaTicket MetropolRegion, valid for the entire VOR region, is priced at €860.
In its press release, VOR predicted that ticket sales growth will remain strong in 2024 and is expected to once again outpace the growth of the KlimaTicket Österreich, which is valid nationwide and costs €1,095.
The KlimaTicket was introduced in 2021 to encourage more public transport use and help Austria meet its goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2040.
“Since the introduction of the climate tickets, we have seen a continuous rise in sales figures, which clearly underlines the shift towards environmentally and climate-friendly public transport in Austria’s largest mobility region,” said Karin Zipperer and Alexander Schierhuber of VOR management. “This positive half-year result is a strong signal for the future of public transport in the eastern region and shows that the combination of optimised services and affordable fares is being widely embraced.”