Muhr children face Salzburg’s longest school journeys

Children in the municipality of Muhr in the Lungau district face Salzburg’s longest school journeys, according to ORF. The average car journey to the nearest school, measured across all school types, takes 26.5 minutes.

The figures come from a nationwide calculation by the Foresight Institute commissioned by ORF and the Austria Press Agency.

Journeys to further education and specialised schools are particularly long. From Muhr, the drive to the nearest academic secondary school, vocational school or special school takes more than 37 minutes in each case.

Filzmoos in the Pongau district ranks second, with an average journey of about 24 minutes across all school types. Krimml in the Pinzgau district follows with about 23.5 minutes.

The calculation does not show how long children and teenagers actually spend travelling each day. It measures the car journey to the nearest school and excludes travel by bus and train, as well as waiting and transfer times. In rural areas, the actual journey using public transport can therefore be considerably longer.

Across Salzburg, school journeys are comparatively short by Austrian standards. The average drive to the nearest academic secondary school takes just under 15 minutes, about three minutes less than in most other federal states.

The shortest journey is to primary school, which is an average of about two and a half minutes away by car in Salzburg. The longest average journey is to an upper-level vocational school, at just under 19 minutes. These schools include higher technical colleges and commercial academies.