City walks

Summer with gaps: Vienna’s public transport system takes its toll

"Krone" reporter Robert Fröwein talks to Viennese people about their thoughts, experiences and concerns.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

"Krone" reporter Robert Fröwein strolls through the city and talks to people in Vienna about their experiences, their thoughts, their worries, their fears. Everyday stories straight from the heart of Vienna.

When I recently met up with an acquaintance on Vienna's Gürtel, the conversation immediately turned to Wiener Linien. "An absolute catastrophe. Now half the streetcars aren't running again in spring and summer and I'm back to trying to figure out how to get to the city center without too much trouble and detours." The reason for his frustration is the current construction site areas for conversion work and the laying of new streetcar tracks. This time it affects a not insignificant population density in the west of Vienna. According to the last census, the districts of Ottakring and Hernals have a combined population of just under 160,000, which would suddenly make the 16th and 17th "slash" the fourth largest city in the country.

The city government's strategically questionable planning stops both streetcar lines 43 and 44, which connect Ottakring and Hernals with Vienna's city center - at least until the beginning of September. Line 44 will be completely discontinued and only partially replaced by line 33, while line 43 will be shortened and will only run between Neuwaldegg and Alser Straße. A few weeks ago, initial online graphics from Wiener Linien surprised with a somewhat unconventional interpretation of alternative routes. Among other things, it was recommended that you could sometimes switch to the U3 from Alser Straße. However, anyone who has spent more than one summer tourist visit in Vienna knows that the U3 is as far away from Alser Straße as Schönbrunn is from the Lainzer Tiergarten.

Of course - track construction work and modernization measures are unavoidable. Nevertheless, the stale aftertaste remains that the planning should have been divided up a little more cleverly and not cut off two elementary districts from Vienna's city center at the same time. An elderly lady from my neighborhood in Hernals is less than impressed. "They keep telling us not to get in the car and then the public transport won't run all summer again. That's not just a problem this year. It's been a thorn in my side for years." While younger people can at least get on their bikes or walk, it's more complicated for older people. "If the summer gets that hot again, I'm not going to struggle on foot from Alser Straße to Schottentor," says the lady. Incidentally, there are no rail replacement buses.

The fact that the Wiener Linien is constantly referring to alternative routes on its channels and in the media usually only helps the healthier citizens or those who don't have such stressful everyday lives. While Wiener Linien demonstrates a biting sense of humor in its banter and memes on the Internet, in practice there are still problems everywhere. My buddy is annoyed by this approach. "They make a joke about every little thing on Instagram, but if I have to wait ten minutes in the pouring rain for a streetcar during rush hour, it's always dismissed with flimsy excuses." The fact is - in an international comparison, Vienna's public transport still works surprisingly well in terms of frequency and reliability. However, this should not encourage us to compete with the worse performers ...