For those that want a quick summary, they’re doing these things:
- Reducing Parking Supply, Not Increasing It
- Creating “Superblocks”: This is a flagship project where the city designates several city blocks, restricts through-traffic, removes parking spots, and transforms the space. The reclaimed asphalt is used for:
- Green Spaces: Planting trees and bushes to combat heat islands.
- Public Spaces: Adding benches and areas for people to meet and rest.
- Active Transport: Expanding bike lanes and pedestrian areas.
- City-Wide Parking Management:
- Eliminating Free Parking: Since 2022, all on-street parking in Vienna requires payment.
- Time Limits for Non-Residents: Non-residents are limited to two hours, discouraging long-term commuter parking in neighborhoods.
- Revenue Reinvestment: The significant revenue generated (around €180 million annually) is funneled back into improving alternatives, specifically cycling infrastructure. This helps build public support.
- Empowering Local Communities (“Neighborhood Oasis” Project): Residents can petition the city to convert parking spots in their area into small green spaces or seating areas
- Providing Strategic Alternatives (Park & Ride): Recognizing that some car use is inevitable, Vienna built convenient, affordable Park & Ride facilities on the city’s outskirts. These large, cheap parking garages are directly connected to efficient and affordable public transport (buses and trains), making it easy for commuters to switch modes for the final leg of their journey.
I think what would also be helpful is to provide permanent car parking spaces for those residents which are not disabled only at a minimum walking distance of about 10 minutes walking. This would reduce a great deal of unnecessary very short car trips - and also make residential areas much nicer.
Edit: Just for curiosity: Can somebody explain the downvotes?
you generally don’t take short trips by car in vienna.
most of what you would need is within walking distance, almost everywhere has excellent public transport, which is also mostly faster than taking a car anyway.
just isn’t necessary to make people walk to their cars: if they’re using their car, it’s likely because they need to, not because they want to… public transport is just more convenient most of the time, because of the reduced parking options within the city! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes. But Vienna was designed to reach that, by traffic planners like Hermann Knoflacher. The consensus is that for changes in motor traffic, both pull-factors (like better walking spaces and better public transport) as well as push-factors (making less efforts to make driving comfortable and subsidize it less) are needed.
I don’t see how adding parking spaces would do either of those.
Why encourage cars? At most, I think having a permanent parking garage structure outside of town and a bus into town would be a fair compromise.
My suggestions…
Hubs
Having parking spots only near public transit hubs, and only underground, would help more. It’d also encourage people to use public transit after leaving their car. To make public transit even more attractive, the buses could drive towards the hubs, through living areas.If you take the transit from your home, you get a lower total fare cost than if you took a parking spot near the hub. That could be provided through a bus pass for which you’d need to provide the nearest bus stop to your address.
It could also help to provide wifi and chargers in transit, making chairs more comfortable and providing accessibility options like pavement-level entry.
You could convert a car lane into a protected public transit lane/way as well. All relatively inexpensive options that make public transit much better than even cars.
You could also prohibit cars in grocery areas altogether. Claim this is so that people can walk safely, without getting run over. For the disabled, there are wheelchairs with storage for groceries. Or home delivery.
Another initiative would be to provide this: bring car to scrapyard. Depending on where you live, you get an (electric) bicycle for free, and if you’re disabled, you get a disability-friendly model. Or, you get a free public transit pass for 4 years, which is automatically renewable. Part of the scrapyard finances then are used to finance the construction of bicycle lanes and conversion of car lanes into public transit and return to greenery.
DUWOCs
Car and petrol companies could be motivated to support this. For car companies, that is by losing subsidies, if they don’t cease car ads and propaganda (be it irl or through algorithms), and retaining them if they shift to production and fostering of bicycle and public transit (and their usage); and retaining subsidies if they do shift.For petrol companies, the same applies, but with a twist. They must shift to green means of energy production; solar, wind, water, nuclear.
Both must prove that they no longer (in)directly receive any support, subsidies, or attractive job offers for CEOs from oil-producing countries, and must be transparent about their dealings and supply chain.
The companies then will be supported if they become decentralised, unionised and worker-owned co-operatives (DUWOCs).
Their former CEOs and key corporate leaders in return, receive support in the form of a damn decent home, a lifelong free public transit pass, and so on.
The support will slowly increase up to a maximum, based on how many petrol and car companies were registered, prior to instating the law. Merging companies to reduce DUWOCs disqualifies. Splitting up into solely and fully independent DUWOCs however, is permitted.
This way, these CEOs et al. will be motivated to race to shift everything to decentralised, worker-owned, unionised co-operatives that have general wellbeing in mind – instead of trying to loophole the law.
Is it unfair? Yes. But in my view, this will get CEOs and key corporate leaders much more in favour of shifting their interests to ones that actually are for the general wellbeing.
Yea because what you are saying isnt helpful and just increases car dependency even more. Not complicated.
Vienna’s War on Parking: The Road To Victory
A Lot of Destruction
While it didn’t touch on it much I think the park and rides are hugely useful to decreasing the number of cars coming into the city.
They become more and more attractive the more scarce and expensive parking within the city is too.
The key is the “more scarce and expensive parking within the city” part. My metro area has bunches of park and rides that stay almost entirely unused because parking downtown is still too cheap and easy.
Imagine if say on the weekends they gave a free ticket in and out of the city if you use the park and ride. Once in the city they’ll probably pay for transit anyway. There’s less cars and should be good for local businesses.
I think this could be advantageous to many cities.
My nearest park and ride is full every working day even now when some 40 to 60% of people have access to work from home (most of the population work for the government here) the park and ride carpark used to overflow into the suburban shop carpark next to it
Anyway it’s full because parking there costs about $8 a day (in the form of a return bus ride), and parking in the city or the parliamentary triangle costs $15 or more
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