UEFA EURO 2008™ was an environmentally friendly tournament according to Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Swiss federal chancellor Samuel Schmid.
The two eminent political figures from the UEFA EURO 2008™ host countries said public transport policies had worked well, especially in terms of road traffic figures over the course of the finals. Austria and Switzerland both have outstanding public transport networks, and fans also profited from the extra services laid on for the tournament. "I've looked at some data and this has been a green championship - 80 per cent of long-distance travel and 60 per cent of short has been by public transport," said Gusenbauer. "We've offered schemes which have proved very successful so this European Championship has been an ecologically-oriented one."
Extra trains
Schmid added: "In fact, we had fewer traffic bottlenecks in Switzerland, even less road congestion at times and even the crime rate dropped in some places according to statistics; some analysts in Switzerland have drawn the conclusion that people from this group must be football fans! We have relied on the dedication of thousands of people, including the Swiss federal railways who put on hundreds of extra trains which ran on time to ensure fans' transportation needs were met. That took a great burden off the roads."
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