Prepared for what lies ahead in tourism
Stay up-to-date with current, independent statistics and information on tourism in the Alpine region.
F.acT: How did the "Bahn zum Berg" association come about and subsequently the Zuugle project?
Veronika Schöll: What began in 2015 with the sale of his private car and writing about this new car-free life led Martin Heppner and two other like-minded people - Peter Backé and Veronika Schöll - to found the "Bahn zum Berg" association. The aim of the association is to promote public transportation to outdoor activities. The non-profit association operates www.bahn-zum-berg.at, which is now the largest public transport tour portal in Austria. Bavaria was added in 2021 with www.bahn-zum-berg.de. Also in 2021, the previously manual entry of the appropriate timetable information for each tour report was automated. This technical solution also forms the basis for the development of Zuugle.
Zuugle, the search engine for public transport mountain tours, has been online since April 30, 2022 in a first version with www.zuugle.at and www.zuugle.de. For the first time, Zuugle simultaneously shows publicly accessible tours, timetables adapted to these tours and possible walking routes from the stop to the tour start and from the end of the tour to the nearest stop in one search result. The non-profit association "Bahn zum Berg" has set itself the goal of promoting public transportation to outdoor activities. In addition to the very successful public transport tour portal "Bahn zum Berg", another innovative milestone has been achieved with the development of the Zuugle search engine. Zuugle was made possible by funding from the Ministry for Climate Protection.
F.acT: How will Zuugle manage to get more outdoor enthusiasts to use public transportation in the future? Experience shows that people are very reluctant to change their behavior.
Veronika Schöll: It's true that people are very reluctant to change their behavior. It takes information, trust and motivation. Some obstacles to using public transport are obvious for "Bahn zum Berg": the lack of optimal connections due to network expansion, frequency and timetable density. According to Katja Diehl from "She drives Mobility", 30% of places in Austria are not (yet) accessible by public transport. "Bahn zum Berg" is trying to highlight and lobby for these blind spots in terms of leisure transportation.
Public transport only works well where the service is comprehensive, ticketing is simple and timetables are reliable. But we humans like to learn by doing. "Bahn zum Berg" believes that good preparation of the available information (linking tours and timetables) and easy accessibility of this information will motivate people to leave their cars where possible and travel to leisure activities by public transport. A positive experience creates repeat offenders and repeat customers.
These empirical values are scientifically underpinned by the accompanying research of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Transportation, Maria Juschten Msc. The results of this study are eagerly awaited and will also serve to improve Zuugle.
F.acT: How will the platform be rolled out and what should Zuugle look like in 5 years' time?
Veronika Schöll:Zuugle will be expanded in several stages by the end of 2022. By adding a number of tour portals and many more tours, the search results will be significantly expanded. After Bavaria and Austria, the entire DACH region will be covered. Over the next few years, Zuugle will expand across the entire Alpine region in several languages. Initial contacts have already been made with France.