I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald at work yesterday and stumbled upon an article about cycle-friendly Vienna. This ties in with my last couple of blogs about cycling in Canberra and Sydney. The article can be found here:
Vienna: The Cycling City
Vienna is the capital of Austria and is by far the largest city in Austria with a population of more than 1.7 million. It forms Austria's cultural, economic, and political centre. As the former home of the Habsburg court and its various empires, the city has an historic background.
In the article, the author embarks on a cycling tour of Vienna. The tour guide says that "I would never bother owning a car in the city, although I do have 6 bikes". Bikes are described as a status symbol and are used to ride to work, functions and nights out.
Vienna is relatively flat and has over 1200km of bike paths and 120 public rental bike stations!!
(Check out the Bike Stations here: http://www.radverleih-hochschaubahn.com/Radverleih/English/)
Vienna has just come out on top of the world's most liveable city survey, conducted by consulting firm Mercer. The survey compares the political, social and economic climate, medical care, education, infrastructure and environmental conditions of global cities.
Could Vienna's push for less cars, and more cycling, be a major factor in their liveability?
I did some more research, and discovered that Vienna is one of a number of cities which has committed for a target of 15% of trips made by bicycles out of the total trips made in the city.
This also ties in with a project called 'Bike City', where a residential apartment block has been built for middle-income residents, with bike racks on every floor and wide corridors especially for bikes.
This meant that there was millions saved in the project by not building a major carpark underneath the building.
Another project that Vienna is investing in is the second largest shopping centre is being made car-free.
The push for cycling over cars has seen congestion drop and a lesser environmental impact. It is also healthier and cheaper than cars.
But what does this all mean?
Are bikes the answer to Australia's problems?
Vienna is more compact when compared to many of Australia's cities and it would take years of planning to put in place the infrastructure to rival to the European city.
I think that the main point of Vienna being such an attractive city and resorting to bikes is that cars are not the answer. Alternatives are needed for transport to cities and around cities.
Apart from bikes, what are these alternatives?
For next time....
Sources Used:
Van der Jagt, Kerry. 2015. Cycling in Vienna. Accessed 9/4/2015 < http://www.traveller.com.au/cycling-in-vienna-austria-the-best-way-to-see-the-worlds-most-liveable-city-1m8iih >
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