FdR awarded for mobility concept

The Festival of Regions was awarded the title “klimaaktiv mobil project partner” by the Ministry of Climate Protection (BMK) for the mobility concept of the 2023 festival edition “Höchste Eisenbahn”.

At regional festivals, traffic – mostly cars – usually follows the event. The idea behind the transport concept for the 2023 Festival of Regions under the motto “High Time” was to turn the tables: The festival took place from June 23 to July 2, 2023 at 12 venues on and along the Summerauerbahn. The dramaturgy and schedule were largely based on the train timetable. The aim: a regional art festival that can be “experienced” entirely by bus and train and without cars. The program and public transport services were brought together in the best possible way right from the planning stage. “Climate change and public transport were deliberately made central themes – both in the overall concept and in terms of content at the level of the artistic projects,” explains Fina Esslinger from the festival’s programme board. The climate-friendly mobility concept was implemented in cooperation with the OÖ Verkehrsverbund. Visitors were able to create their own festival timetable via a specially programmed online timetable module on the FdR website.

Free useage of bus and train with festival pass

“Heart of the cooperation with the Upper Austrian Transport Association was the FdR ticket: a low-cost festival pass that allowed visitors to use buses and trains in the festival region for ten days at no extra cost,” says FdR Managing Director Otto Tremetzberger. The cooperation with the mobility partners is exemplary for future festival editions and the basis for further collaborations, for example for the next Festival of the Regions from June 13 to 22, 2025 in Braunau am Inn.

The special trains organized especially for festival visitors with numerous artistic interventions were a great success. Shuttle buses between the festival venues complemented the mobility offer.

The award as a klimaaktiv mobil project partner as part of the “Mobility Management for Tourism and Leisure” action and consulting program was accepted by FdR board member Janina Wegscheider on the eve of the 11th Tourism Mobility Day in Zell am See. “During the course of the festive evening and the next day, our mobility concept was highly praised by various people who found the handling of an art festival on a railroad line to be forward-looking and refreshing”, says Wegscheider, ”we are of course even more motivated to answer the mobility question seriously, creatively and as climate-friendly as possible at the upcoming festivals as a result.”

Upper Austrian Transport Association: “Model cooperation”

“The demand for public transport services at events is increasing. Many event organizers have also recognized this and therefore attach great importance to providing their visitors with an adequate public transport service – for example in the form of increased capacity or special services. These special or event services in regional rail and bus transport are ordered by the event organizers in cooperation with the Upper Austrian Transport Association. The Upper Austrian Transport Association handles around 50 of these event cooperations every year. The Festival of Regions is a model cooperation in that public transport is an integral part of the festival concept,” says Klaus Wimmer, Managing Director of OÖ Verkehrsverbund Gesellschaft.