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Young people demand climate-friendly Alpine ticket

Nov 12, 2020 / alpMedia
High prices, long travel times, complex booking systems: an Alpine-wide survey by CIPRA's Youth Council shows that sustainable travel in the Alps must become more attractive.
Image caption:
A ticket for the Alps: The CIPRA Youth Council is committed to sustainable mobility. (c) Caroline Begle, CIPRA International

“We want to make travelling in the Alps easier, more sustainable and more attractive for young people,” says Karin Augsburger from Liechtenstein, summarising the vision of the CIPRA Youth Council. To this end she and the other members have developed the idea of an Alpine-wide ticket (AlpTick): for seven days within one month, young adults aged between 15 and 29 years will be able to travel by train, bus and other forms of public transport throughout the Alpine region. To make the ticket affordable to a young audience, it should cost no more than 144 euros.

The CIPRA Youth Council has now received feedback on a survey about AlpTick from a young, Alpine-wide audience. Of a total of 264 participants, 95 percent would be interested in using the AlpTick for their holidays in the Alps. This represents a considerable difference compared to current travel behaviour, with more than one third of those surveyed currently depending on private cars for holidays in the Alps, although more than three quarters would look for sustainable means of transport when planning a trip.

Making sustainable travel easier

While unrepresentative, this survey also revealed that young people are reluctant to accept high prices, long travel times and complex ticket systems for different modes of transport and cross-border journeys. Climate-friendly alternatives must therefore be made competitive, attractive and easily accessible. CIPRA Youth Council member Luisa Deubzer from Germany is convinced: “An affordable, cross-border Alpine ticket would be a huge step towards climate-friendly travel”.

With the Youth Alpine Interrail project, a first important step in this direction has already been taken with the support of the contracting parties to the Alpine Convention. In order to make a year-round AlpTick a reality, the CIPRA Youth Council and CIPRA International remain committed to this goal.

To further realise the AlpTick, the CIPRA Youth Council is organising a network workshop on 9 December 2020 as part of the “AlpWeek Intermezzo”. The workshop will take place online and is aimed at national and regional transport companies and state and regional representatives of the Alpine countries. Together with these, the CIPRA Youth Council wants to tackle the challenges and next steps on the road to AlpTick.

Further information and registration: “AlpWeek Intermezzo 2020”

 

Sources and further Information:

AlpTick (current project)

Results of the AlpTick Survey (en)