Repainted or new?

New VVT bus design: commuter frustration instead of colorfulness

The new livery means that buses of different colors often serve the same route.

(Bild: Birbaumer Johanna)

The new design of the Verkehrsverbund Tirol (VVT) buses was supposed to convey a good mood - that was the plan. Since the timetable change, the reality looks less cheerful. This is also due to the cost issue.

List Fritz member Markus Sint is not letting up with his criticism of VVT's new bus design. As reported, the design by marketing offices alone cost 100,000 euros. According to Sint, there are also the costs for repainting and wrapping the formerly bright yellow buses. The Chamber of Commerce has estimated this at around 10,000 euros per bus. The situation is different for new buses. These are ordered in the new design straight away. "There are additional costs here too, it's the same as for private cars when you order a special paint job," says Sint.

Long changeover phase
In total, he expects the new design to cost an additional two million euros by 2030, which is how long the changeover phase will take. "Which is actually strange in itself: if the VVT's argument is a uniform appearance, they should be striving to achieve this goal quickly and not over such a long period of time."

LA Markus Sint (Liste Fritz)

(Bild: Liste Fritz/Friedle)

Confusion among passengers about different colors
The juxtaposition of several designs also causes confusion for many commuters, "I know that from my own observations: many no longer know their way around. The yellow buses go to the countryside, this simple rule no longer applies if the front of the bus is suddenly pink or blue!"

Sint: Investing money more wisely
Sint tried to shed light on the issue with written motions and urgent questions in parliament. A lot of taxpayers' money is at stake, "which would be much better invested in increasing frequency," he says against the backdrop of the commuter frustration that has emerged in many places.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

WK Tirol criticized: Not involved
The Chamber of Commerce's Transport and Traffic Section, which severely criticized the changeover to the new colour design in advance, no longer wishes to comment on the matter. The matter is over. How many buses have been repainted is not known.

The VVT is not repainting a single bus that is currently in use.

Mobilitäts-LR Rene Zumtobel (SPÖ)

Confusion about the answer: ordered, not delivered
A response to an inquiry by René Zumtobel (SPÖ), head of mobility, provides information on this. According to the answer, 216 of the 680 buses in operation across Tyrol are in the new design. It goes on to say that there was no tender for buses in the new design in 2021, 166 in 2022 and five in 2023. And how many were actually delivered? Zumtobel's response to the inquiry also provides information on this: zero in 2021, zero in 2022 and five in 2023. This means that 211 of the 216 multi-colored buses must have been repainted. Or the response to the inquiry on which Sint bases his criticism is incorrect. The "Krone" asked Zumtobel for clarification. Because he emphasized several times: "VVT is not repainting a single bus that is currently in use." 

Mobility Commissioner Rene Zumtobel (SPÖ)

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

"No recoloring"
The new vehicle design is therefore not a "recolouring campaign", emphasizes Mobility LR René Zumtobel. "No existing buses are being repainted, only newly purchased vehicles are being given a new design. The new vehicle design will be introduced gradually for economic reasons and in the interests of sustainability, so that 95% of the entire vehicle fleet will be in the new design in five years at the latest."

Response to inquiry incomplete
So far, 231 buses in the new design have been ordered, of which 216 new vehicles are already in use, while 15 buses are still outstanding due to delivery problems. "171 of the 231 new vehicles were ordered in the course of new tenders, while a further 60 new buses were purchased by the bus companies independently of tenders," explained LR Zumtobel. This is not clear from the answer to the question. LA Sint therefore suspected recoloring.