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Greens tout cable cars for Geneva suburbs

Geneva’s Green party has proposed a novel solution to improve the canton’s traffic congestion: a cable car system, much like a ski lift, to transport people between outlying suburbs.

Greens tout cable cars for Geneva suburbs
Urban cable cars in the French city of Grenoble. Photo: Bastille-Grenoble.com (DR)

The party is seeking approval from the cantonal parliament for a feasibility study into such a people-moving system outside the city centre.

The Greens envisage two lines, including one that would link Geneva’s airport and Bernex, a western suburb with several stops along the way, including Balexert, the canton’s largest shopping centre.

According to information presented by the party, the cable cars would travel at 22 kilometres an hour, meaning that the trip from Bernex to the airport would take 20 minutes.

Another proposed line would cross the Rhône River to link Le Lignon, a residential suburb with a forested park and the Vernets ice skating rink.

The Greens say the system could connect with existing tram lines and a new regional railway (CEVA) under construction to link Geneva’s main train station with communities in neighbouring France.

And residential buildings could be created to serve as pylons to hold up the cable car.

The Greens expect critics to poke fun at the idea.

 But party MP François Lefort, sponsor of the motion for the study, recalled that people laughed when mountain lifts were first proposed in Switzerland at the end of the 19th century, the Tribune de Genève newspaper reported.

“Public transport by cable exists now in 16 countries and 36 cities,” André Baud, a Green politician in the municipality of Bernex, told the Tribune.

“It allows to overcome obstacles (that other forms of transport cannot) and it benefits from a very high rate of use.”

Cities such as Barcelona, Grenoble and Caracas are among those that use cable cars in urban areas.

Lefort admitted to being sceptical about such systems but he became convinced of the advantages, he told the Tribune.

Cable cars require three and a half times less energy than streetcars while they occupy much less ground-level space, proponents say.

They are also easy and economic to build and they require little staffing to operate.

And they can be installed virtually anywhere, crossing rivers, rocky outcroppings and highways.

While they can carry fewer passengers than streetcars and buses, they are well-suited to suburban areas, Lefort said.

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PUBLIC TRANSPORT

1-2-3 Ticket: Austria’s nationwide unlimited rail pass available from October

After several years of waiting, Austria's nationwide unlimited rail pass - now renamed the Klimaticket (climate ticket) - will be available from October, although some states have yet to sign up.

1-2-3 Ticket: Austria's nationwide unlimited rail pass available from October
A person boards a subway train in the Austrian city of Vienna. Photo by Samuel-Elias Nadler on Unsplash

Austria’s much awaited ‘1-2-3 Ticket’ – which gives unlimited travel across the entire country – will be valid for travel from Austrian National Day on October 26th onwards.

The idea behind the 1-2-3 ticket is that Austrian residents can choose to pay one euro per day for unlimited public transport in their own state, two euros per day for travel in two neighbouring states or three euros per day to travel throughout Austria. 

The ticket has been renamed the Klimaticket – meaning climate ticket – to highlight the positive environmental outcomes associated with rail travel. 

The ticket has been repeatedly delayed due to disputes over costs and the suitability of particular routes, however these look now to be settled.

The official announcement was made on Wednesday, with Austria’s Kronen Zeitung newspaper saying Austria chipped in an additional 100 million euros to make the project work.

How much will it cost? 

The ticket for the whole of Austria – including all nine states – will cost 1095 euros per year, although it will go on sale for an introductory price of 949 euros annually from October 1st.

Senior citizens and people under the age of 26 will only have to pay 821 euros per year – or 699 euros if they buy the ticket before October 26th. 

For those who want to travel through two states, it will cost 730 euros, while travel through one state will be 365 euros annually.

The 365 euro ticket has been in place for some time in the state of Vienna and has won International acclaim.

READ MORE: What is the 1-2-3-ticket? Everything you need to know about the new ticket planned to give unlimited public transport across Austria

Which types of travel are included – and which states are part of the plan? 

When it is launched, the ticket will be valid for all types of travel in Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, including buses, trains, long-distance trains (i.e. ÖBB) and trams. 

Three eastern states – Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland – are however still holding out on the project. 

As it stands, ÖBB travel in these states as well as bus travel and S-Bahn services will be included in the ticket, along with travel on services operated by Wiener Linien. 

Other forms of regional and local transport will not be included in these three states. 

Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler said she was confident the other three states would sign up. 

“We’ll make it there as well, I’m certain” she said. 

“You really get a hell of a lot for your money.”

Why are these three states holding out? 

Broadcaster ORF says the fact that no solution has yet been found is also due to the resistance of the federal state of Burgenland.

The complaint relates to the fact that the ticket would dramatically increase the cost of travelling from Burgenland to Vienna, which is a relatively common commuter trip. 

As travelling from Burgenland to Vienna involves crossing Lower Austria, the price of a season ticket from Neudörfl to Vienna, for example, which currently costs 730 euros, would increase to 1,095 euros per year under the new scheme.

An estimated 25,000 people commute regularly from Burgenland to Vienna, based on pre-pandemic numbers

Transport authorities are pushing for Lower Austria and Burgenland to be treated as one state for the purposes of the pass, Der Standard reports, thereby allowing for a reduction in the cost for commuters. 

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