Austria's free public transport offer aims to discourage teen driving

Austria introduced a year of free public transport for 18-year-olds at the beginning of this year, a measure aimed at discouraging young adults from driving cars. After coming of age, Austrians can now enjoy free travel on trains, buses and trams for 12 months across the whole country.

"I very much like using public transport, so I'm very much looking forward to having a free ticket," Vienna high school student Linda told CGTN. 

"I want to get my driving license but I'm not sure because we don't have a car because we just use the public transport," her friend Meera added.

Public transport is already free for Austrians until their 18th birthday, when some learn to drive and turn to cars for getting around. Climate Action minister Leonore Gewessler is hoping to change teenage dreams by increasing gasoline prices and making public transport free of charge.

"We want to reach out to young people at exactly this point in time to give them an additional opportunity to experience public transport in our country so that they stay with public transport for their adult life," Gewessler told CGTN.

Free public transport for 18-year-olds comes at a price: the Austrian government will need to find 130 million dollars a year for this measure. Some European countries are even more generous - the small countries Luxembourg and Malta, for instance, offer free public transport for everyone.

And it's not just changing public transport use that the Austrian government has in its sights. It's also investing in infrastructure to significantly shorten rail travel times in the next few years, with three major tunnel projects in the Alps due to begin. Austrians already travel the most kilometers per capita on trains compared with other European Union members.

Meanwhile the country's 18-year-olds have three years to claim their one year of free public transport travel.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday