While other European cities have traffic-free city centres to some degree, such as the city toll introduced in Stockholm or Italian cities where only certain vehicles are allowed to enter the city, Vienna still has no limitations for vehicles in the city centre.

Stadt Wien said around 53,000 vehicles enter the city centre, or First District, each day. According to the city government, this causes traffic issues and leaves the centre full of cars—either trying to move around or taking up pavement space that could be used for more green areas, cycle paths, pedestrian paths, and recreational facilities. 

City Councillor Ulli Sima aims to make those changes. The Vienna politician has been pressuring the federal government, and Greens Transport and Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler in particular, to create a legal basis for the states to introduce their own “traffic calming” measures.

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“The 1st district has excellent public transport links. We therefore want to reduce motorised private transport here and make a further significant contribution to climate protection by calming traffic”, said the councillor.

She added: “Our camera-based access model would reduce the number of entrances to the 1st district by around a third! Parking space utilisation would be reduced by almost a quarter. We can use the space that is freed up and work with the district to make it attractive, green and cool.”

What is Vienna’s plan to ‘calm’ traffic?

In principle, electronic, camera-based access controls would be in place for the first district, which checks on major entry and exit points for the city centre. These cameras take photos of the licence plates of entering vehicles, which are then compared electronically. 

According to the plans, free entry and exit would only be allowed for short-term activities, such as a 30-minute errand run. Entry would also be permitted for those with an exemption permit or if cars entered a public garage.

Exemption permits would be issued for defined groups based on licence plates. These groups include residents, local business owners, delivery and commercial transport, taxis, emergency vehicles, medical and social infrastructure, and waste collection. 

What is blocking the plans?

There are extreme concerns regarding data protection. One of the main issues is the fear that the cameras will be used to check and control public protests and demonstrations, for example.

“It is crucial that the law clearly stipulates that only photos of licence plates and, if necessary, of the vehicle’s driver may be used. Only the driver’s data may be used and only for road police checks by the road police. Anything else would be illegal,” Nikolaus Forgo from the Federal Government’s Data Protection Council told a Kurier report.

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Experts have countered the concern with a proposal to amend the Austrian Road Traffic Regulations so that the government would be obligated to delete the photos taken by the control cameras and not use them for other purposes. The City of Vienna has also said that the recording would be deleted immediately if the licence plate is stored as exempt from the driving ban, if it goes to a garage, or if the car is seen leaving the area within 30 minutes.

Another difficulty in controlling traffic to the city centre is the number of entrances in the area. While the Swedish capital only monitors seven bridges, 33 strategic points would have to be monitored in Vienna.