From the transport association

Lower Austria takes the wheel for buses

FPÖ State Transport Councillor Udo Landbauer (right) brought VOR boss Wolfgang Schroll to NÖVOG back in March.

(Bild: NLK Pfeiffer)

With regional bus services and shared cabs, important agendas are being transferred from the Eastern Region Transport Association to the state-owned NÖVOG. Lower Austria wants to become more independent of Vienna.

Now, at the latest, it is clear why the long-standing VOR managing director switched to the state-owned NÖVOG in March, where the executive board was expanded from one to three positions in the same breath. The transport organization company thus set the course for the next restructuring.

From now on NOVÖG instead of VOR
As of September 1, the "planning, ordering and handling of regional bus and on-demand services in Lower Austria" will move from the transport association to NÖVOG. And with it, around 40 employees. "We are thus bringing these important agendas home to Lower Austria," emphasizes Udo Landbauer, the FPÖ state deputy responsible. Vienna and even Burgenland, which hold 44 and 12 percent of VOR respectively, have been handling the road-based public transport themselves for years.

The three federal states of the eastern region want to continue to work together in the future when it comes to pricing, passenger information and regional rail passenger transport. Landbauer expects the decoupling to result in "more flexibility through less bureaucracy and faster implementation of improved services in the regions". Nothing will change for passengers as of Sunday.