Many cities in Europe have been promoting the bicycle lifestyle and Vienna is no exception. Today, this capital city of Austria is also encouraging its residents to bike to work as its way of helping lower carbon emissions and dust pollution.
A recent survey done by a traffic research organization showed that tens of thousands of Vienna residents are cycling to work on a daily basis. Specifically, the Austrian Traffic Club (VCO) revealed that some 34,000 residents of the total 1.7 million currently living in the city are using their bicycles to go to work.
The city government is also doing its part to encourage more people to bike. An initiative called “Bike 2 Work” has been implemented to entice a greater number of local city residents to use their bicycles instead of their cars. Additional efforts to reach this goal and to reduce carbon emissions as well as fine dust pollution in the metropolis are expected in the coming years.
Around Austria today, some 247,000 of the country’s 8.5 million citizens do pedal their way to work. The traffic research organization, VCO, said the number is far greater than it was 10 years ago when only some 146000 where doing the same thing.
Many Austrians have, so far, responded positively to this Bike 2 Work campaign which they consider to be a more eco-friendly lifestyle. This is despite the fact that some drivers are still not sold to the idea of leading a car-free life. Each year, around 500,000 bicycles are sold in Austria.
A new bike garage facility is actually in place in Vienna to accommodate bicycles. The secured building situated at the Hietzing underground station charges one Euro per day to park a bicycle. The facility is at an ideal location known as the cycling highway and opened last October 2010. To let more cyclists know about this service, the city legislators have vowed to implement additional measures such as posting signs about the garage.
