Austria offering free public transport to people who get specific tattoo

Especially here in the UK, I think we have become accustomed to train fares costing an arm and a leg.

Heck, one TikToker managed to get from the UK to Abu Dhabi for cheaper than a single ticket between Manchester and London.

As a result, millions of Brits would love the opportunity to get cheaper or even free rail travel across the country.

Well, if you were to up sticks to the picturesque Austria, then you have the opportunity to have free train, bus and tram travel for an entire year.

Getty Stock Images

The catch, you ask... you have to get a tattoo bearing the name of the country's new railcard, essentially advertising the annual pass by Klimaticket.

Leonore Gewessler, Austria’s climate minister and a Green party MP, offered the deal over the weekend at a music festival in the town of St Pölten.

In an Instagram post, Klimaticket said the first three people to get the tattoo would get the pass entitling them to free rail travel for a year.

She posted a photo of a tattoo on her own arms with the words 'Gewessler takes the lead', though the minister's ink is in fact soluble.

Instagram/@lgewessler

A tent at the music festival was offering the free annual rail card worth £852 for those who got the word 'Klimaticket', which means climate ticket, permanently tattooed on their arm.

While Gewessler said the promotion wasn't a problem, some have accused her of exploiting young people and using their skin to promote the railway network.

As per The Telegraph, the MP told a local TV channel: "This has been carried out with great care. It is only done during daylight and only offered to people over the age of 18.

"The people who get the tattoos mostly already have some."

Instagram/@kilmaticket

However, since the promotion was made public and gone somewhat viral in recent days, many have spoken out against it.

Henrike Brandstötter, a fellow Austrian MP, said: "Offering people money for putting advertising under their skin reveals an unacceptable view of humanity from a government minister."

Meanwhile, Jake Lambert, director of One Mobility, the company that operates Klimaticket, told APA news agency that 'the feedback at the festivals was extremely positive'.

Getty Stock Images

These pop-up tattoo parlours have appeared at various events across Austria this summer, with the German-language newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten reporting over the weekend that six people took advantage of the promotion across two festivals.

The paper added that around 30 attendees of the Electric Love festival took up the promotion last month.

The Klimaticket first went on sale in 2021, with the hope it would encourage the Austrian public to take public transport rather than driving.