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TRANSPORT

Vienna to reward car-free travel with concert and museum tickets

If you take public transport, cycle or walk in Vienna, you stand to gain more than fresh air and exercise, with the city unveiling an app on Monday to reward car-free travel with free concert and museum tickets.

Vienna to reward car-free travel with concert and museum tickets
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A total of 1,000 users will start a test of the smartphone app from February 26. If the six-month test is successful, the app is expected to be rolled out to the broader public in the autumn.

The app works through a tracking system that recognises the mode of transport used and calculates the CO2 savings in comparison to taking a car.

“We want to reward CO2 reduction with a cultural experience,” Vienna city council member Peter Hanke told a press conference at the presentation of the new app, which allows users to collect “culture tokens” whenever they commute without cars.

Users get one token as soon as they have saved 20 kilogrammes of CO2, which would be reached if a average resident within the city limits commuted without a car for two weeks, according to project leader Christina Hubin.

The tokens can be exchanged for free tickets at four participating cultural institutions. The Vienna Museum of the city's history, an art exhibition space, a theatre and a classical concert venue are taking part.

In the initial test phase the participating institutions will not becompensated. Vienna, with its 1.8 million inhabitants, is known for its efficient public transport.

Annual travel cards for public transport cost just one euro per day and now outnumber cars in the city.

Under a newly formed coalition government between the conservative People's Party (OeVP) and the Greens, Austria aims to be climate neutral by 2040, a decade ahead of the EU's target.
 

TRANSPORT

Danish rail company ordered to fix cancellation issues by end of 2024

Transport operator GoCollective, formerly known as Arriva, has been given written orders to improve its record of service cancellations by no later than the end of this year.

Danish rail company ordered to fix cancellation issues by end of 2024

The order was issued during a meeting at the Ministry of Transport on Wednesday, during which the company was asked to explain the current situation, according to Social Democratic transport spokesperson Thomas Jensen.

“For us it’s important that, when we agree on a contract, it must be respected. People have to be able to take the train without all those cancellations,” Jensen told TV Midtvest.

GoCollective has operated transport in Denmark since 2003 when it was awarded a government contract for regional rail services in Central and West Jutland.

In June, the company cancelled 80 services in Jutland with the space of a week – more than 10 each day on average.

At the time, the company said that maintenance works on trains were behind the cancellations.

The company was grilled on a number of questions at the ministerial meeting according to Jensen, including how many times it has cancelled departures and why.

An assessment will be made by the end of the year as to whether the company has fulfilled the terms of its contract.

If this is not found to be the case, GoCollective can be “released from its duties”, Jensen told TV Midtvest.

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