Vienna will reward people who forgo cars by giving them free concert tickets


Walk, ride a bike, or hop on a bus in Vienna, and you could be closer to a free concert or trip to a museum.
On Monday, the city launched a new app that tracks users' modes of transportation. It calculates the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) savings in comparison to driving a car, and once users save 40 pounds of CO2, they receive one "culture token." Tokens are then exchanged for free tickets to participating cultural institutions.
"We want to reward CO2 reduction with a cultural experience," said Peter Hanke, a member of the Vienna City Council. Right now, the app is being tested by 1,000 people, but if the trial is successful, the app will open to the broader public in the fall, AFP reports. Austria's goal is to be climate neutral by 2040.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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