Vienna is the most liveable city in the world. Is its public transport network the key to its success?

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Public transport is part of what makes Vienna the most livable city in the world, but what makes mobility so good in this city?

The city has approximately two million inhabitants et almost half of them have a transport cardaccording to Josef Taucher, a member of the Vienna city council belonging to the Social Democratic Party.

“It costs 1 euro per dayand this since 2012. And this has a massive impact on climate protection “, declared Mr. Taucher to Euronews Next on the sidelines of the European Mobility Expo, highlighting the affordable nature of the annual card which costs 365 euros.

The city government is committed to making Vienna climate neutral by 2040 in a roadmap two years ago.

“We go around the world five times every day with our buses, trams and metro,” he added, referring to the kilometers traveled daily by the transport system’s buses, trams and trains.

According to city statistics, three out of ten Viennese use public transport et more than a third residents of the city travel on footwhileonly a quarter use the car to move around.

Of the 792 million passengers on the Wiener Linien (Viennese lines) in 2022, 352 million journeys were made by metro and 274 million by tram.

A recent survey also revealed a satisfaction rate of 91% with regard to public transport, which places Vienna on the top step of the podium among 83 cities in Europe.

Shared services for the last mile

“A few years ago, we added shared services such as bicycles and shared electric cars to provide a response to the last and first mile. We must prevent people from using their private cars, even for a few meters , because once they are in the car, they stay in the car,” said Alexandra Reinagl, CEO of Wiener Linien (Viennese Lines), the company that runs the transport system.

The last mile refers to the final leg of a user’s journey, when public transportation options are reduced.

This can be a barrier to encouraging people to stop using their private car if they have concerns about their comfort or safety.

“Users need to have a reliable system. If you don’t own a car, there needs to be another system that gets you from A to B,” she added.

Expansion planned for the future

The city is working on expanding the public transport network.

“We are in the process of renewing our system, because we have an aging infrastructure since we have been operating trams since the beginning of the 20th century,” she said.

A brand new automatic metro line, the U5, as well as the modernization of the U2 line, were initially planned for 2026 and 2028 respectively.

However, the U2 project has been postponed until 2030, according to theRailway Gazette.

This extension should make it possible to manage 300 million additional passengers and save up to 75,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

“We can take advantage of this to transform entire streets into new leisure areas where people not only want to move around, but also want to stay. This is what makes a city good,” according to Alexandra Reinagl.