Since 2009, year after year, the Mercer Consulting Group’s quality of life survey has placed Vienna at the top of 215 cities, while London, Paris and New York failed to make into the top 35. The survey is based on political, social, economic and environmental aspects, personal safety, health care, education, business environment and transport.
Having lived in Vienna for eight years and frequently visited thereafter, I would give public transport high priority, in deciding Vienna’s ranking, as it really impacts in one way or the other the ranking of other factors.
One observer said that “We have terrific public transport, with the underground working 24 hours, and it only costs 1 euro per trip [for those who buy a 365 euro annual card].” Actually this observer should have said for as many trips as you make.
It is not just the large extent of the network that matters but the way different modes of transportation are integrated so as to make the change from one mode to another limited to a few steps.
Vienna’s population is about 1.8 million and the number of those employed close to 0.78 million. Reports say 53 per cent commute to work by using public transport. The total number of trips a year is 900 million, which translates to 500 journeys per inhabitant per year.
Yet there are close to 682 cars registered in Vienna, which makes the city sometimes congested and parking is difficult. People still desire private cars but a large number uses public transport nevertheless.
Environmental integrity
The transport network is engineered to find a balance between peoples’ need for mobility and environmental integrity and preserving and improving the quality of life.
Currently, there are 109 bus lines, 29 tramway lines, five underground metro lines in addition to 10 fast train lines that belong to the countrywide network but are used for local transport when passing through Vienna. The fact that the same fare system and tickets cover all these modes has made it easy for people to use public transport and give it a high degree of acceptance.
The metro system started in 1898 but its modern and expanded form started in 1976, with an average speed of 32.5 kilometres/hour. The system is the main carrier with almost 429 million passengers a year. The network length was increased from 70- to 82.9 kilometres between 2009 and now with more scheduled. The stations were also increased from 84 to 104.
The tram lines are 29 with one line added in recent years. The length of the network is 180.4 kilometres with 1,071 stops and is said to carry close to 294 million passengers a year. It plays an important role in connecting areas where the underground lines are relatively far from access. The roads and traffic indicators were modified to allow trams, buses and cars to use them at the same time.
The buses mostly operate in areas where there is no metro or tram coverage and therefore it can be said that they largely bring passengers to the nearest station of one service or the other. There are 109 bus routes with 3,877 stops and the system carries 178 million passengers a year.
In total, the Vienna public transport system carries just over 900 million passengers a year and employs 8,700. The affordability of the service makes it desirable, especially with weekly, monthly and annual tickets that can be used in all modes of the system, which is managed by Wiener Linien on behalf of the city municipality.
Ultra-low sulphur
All the lines are powered by electricity except the buses. This means that their environmental impact is minimised and there are no direct emissions emanating from the trains. The buses however are fuelled by liquid petroleum gas which is the least polluting among petroleum products and could be comparable to the ultra-low sulphur fuel used by Dubai buses.
Investment-wise, a journey by car requires 90 times more infrastructural investment than the same journey made by train and 20 times more if it was made by bus or tramway.
Environmentally, the energy savings by using public transport as opposed to individual cars is huge and with the concern about air quality and climate change, governments find expansion of public transport a priority. Oil prices may go up and down, but people are always better off using public transport irrespective whether the country is an oil producer or a consuming country.
It is a pleasure to see the success of the Dubai bus, metro and tram systems which will help Dubai to move up the Mercer scale from 75 now. This may compensate me for the unfortunate situation of the city I love, Baghdad, which is at the bottom of the list now, no thanks to the occupation and the governments that came with it.
The writer is former head of the Energy Studies Department at the Opec Secretariat in Vienna.