Vienna Looks To Ban Motorcycles In A Bid To Make Austria's Capital City Centre 'Car Free'

In what comes as a bit of a shock and bolt to the motorcycling enthusiasts and racing fans who love to trailblazer their bikes across the city, the local authorities in Austria's capital city have decided to ban bikes from the city centre.

Bike (Image: AFP / Getty)

Austria's capital city Viena is known to be a culturally rich center with archaic medieval buildings forming part of the city's splendid landscape in Central Europe.Besides its age long heritage of enamoring tourists with spell-bounding historical sites, Vienna is also home to KTM, one of the leading motorcyle brands in the world. In what comes as a bit of a shock and bolt to the motorcycling enthusiasts and racing fans who love to trailblazer their bikes across the city, the local authorities in the city have decided to ban bikes from the city centre. Vienna has followed the footsteps of Tryol, another Austrian state, which imposed a ban on motorcycles a few weeks back. It is notable that Tryol is famous in the biking circuit around the globe for having some of the most stunning roads in Europe, making it ideal conditons for motorcycle rides. However, Vienna seems to have been a bit more harsher on the ban unlike the one in Tyrol, which affects motorcycles only and not sports cars. The ban in the city centre of Vienna has been imposed on all kinds of motorized vehicles, including even electric bikes. The main rationale of the local authorities behind imposing the ban has been pushing for a 'Car Free' city centre. However, the decision has evoked some resentment and opposition by the residents, particularly due to the ban covering even silent and zero emissions vehicles like electric scooters and motorcycles. The move to completely ban all types of motorized vehicles seems to have disappointed many bikers, but local authorities do not seem to budge an inch from their decision. The ban also covers parking of vehicles in the city centre, unless they are listed on the exception list. In general, the European continent has seen more and more two-wheeler users switch to a more environment friendly electric vehicle. Even electric passenger cars have made way for the usual carbon fuel powered cars. The ring road encircling the city is excluded from the new guideline; allowing private cars, vans and motorcycles from using that route. Residents within the exclusion zone or those who have a private garage, in the vehicle-free zone and also have a parking permit, will be allowed. However, it's not specified if this clause covers motorcycles and scooters as well.