CONCERNS SALZBURG

Hope and doubt

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Julia Hürner)

A commentary by "Salzburg-Krone" editor-in-chief Claus Pándi.

Once again Salzburg is facing the traditional traffic jam for the public holiday.

Bad for the nerves, bad for the environment.

A quick solution is not to be expected. Not even a slow one. It is more likely that the situation on Salzburg's roads will get even worse.

Stefan Schnöll, the regional transport councillor, cannot be blamed for this. He is not fighting against windmills, but against lobbies that do not even think about it, but defend old habits out of habit.

Schnöll is right when he calls for ASFINAG reform. Schnöll wants the road financing company to redirect part of its recent two and a half billion revenue into the expansion of public transport in Salzburg.

That would be clever and far-sighted.

But clever and far-sighted proposals are a sure-fire way to hit the wall when it comes to cars in Austria.

Anyone with half a brain knows that without attractive bus and rail services, the traffic jam horror on Austria's roads can only get worse.

It remains to be hoped (and doubted) that Schnöll's demand to reform ASFINAG will be supported by his ÖVP party. It's a strange fact that the Greens are completely failing in this matter.

So we can only hope (and doubt) that the next government will think more boldly after the national elections.