Austria’s KlimaTicket: Assessing the short-term impact of a cheap nationwide travel pass on demand

Measures to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions are of great importance to policy-makers. A recent example is the nationwide KlimaTicket in Austria, a country with a relatively high share of transport-related emissions. The cheap yearly season ticket introduced in October 2021 allows unlimited access to Austria’s public transport network. Using the synthetic control and synthetic difference-in-differences methods, we assess the causal effect of this policy on rail travel demand by constructing a data-driven counterfactual out of European railway companies to mimic the number of passengers of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) without the KlimaTicket. Overall, the results indicate that the KlimaTicket has no short-run passenger growth effects. While passenger numbers recovered faster after the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023, the passenger growth rate of the ÖBB is even lower than it would be under no treatment. • First paper assessing the causal effect of the KlimaTicket launched in Austria in 2021 on rail travel demand. • Showing that the introduction of a cheap nationwide public transport travel pass in Austria had no passenger growth effects. • Presenting a study design of how comparable pricing measures can be analysed in the future. • Demonstrating the utility of the synthetic control and synthetic difference-in-differences methods in the context of assessing transport policy interventions.