“Krone” reporter Robert Fröwein walks 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 an acquaintance on the Vienna Belt, the conversation immediately turned to the Vienna Lines. “An absolute disaster. Now half of the trams no longer run in the spring and summer and I can think again about how I can get to the city center with as little inconvenience and detours as possible.” The reason for his frustration is the current construction sites for renovation work and new construction of tram tracks. This time it concerns a not insignificant population density in the west of Vienna. According to the last census, the districts of Ottakring and Hernals together have almost 160,000 inhabitants, making the 16th and 17th “Hieb” suddenly the fourth largest city in the country. would make.
The city council’s strategically questionable planning stops both trams, lines 43 and 44, connecting Ottakring and Hernals with Vienna’s city center – until at least early September. Line 44 is completely discontinued and only partially replaced by line 33, line 43 is operated for a short time and only runs between Neuwaldegg and Alser Straße. The first online graphics from Wiener Linien surprised people a few weeks ago with a somewhat idiosyncratic interpretation of alternative options. It was recommended, among other things, that you could sometimes transfer to the U3 from Alser Straße. But anyone who has spent more than one summer’s tourist visit to Vienna knows that the U3 is as far from Alser Straße as Schönbrunn is from Lainzer Tiergarten.
Of course, railway construction and modernization measures are inevitable. However, the stale aftertaste remains that the planning should have been divided a little more intelligently and that two elementary districts of the center of Vienna should not have been closed off at the same time. An older lady from my neighborhood in Hernals doesn’t seem very happy. “They keep telling us not to get in the car and then public transport stops running all summer. This is not just a problem this year. It has been a thorn in my side for years.” While younger people can at least cycle or walk, things get more complicated for older citizens. “If the summer gets this hot again, I won’t torture myself on foot from Alser Straße to Schottentor,” said the lady. There are no rail replacement buses running.
The fact that the Wiener Linien repeatedly refers to different rules on their channels and in the media usually only helps healthier fellow citizens or those who do not have such a stressful everyday life. While the Wiener Linien shows a biting sense of humor when it comes to insults and memes on the Internet, in practice there are still problems around every corner. This approach upsets my friend. “On Instagram they make a joke for every little thing, but if I have to wait ten minutes in the pouring rain for a Bim during rush hour, it is always dismissed with lame excuses.” The fact is – in international comparison, Vienna’s public transport works well and yet surprisingly well in terms of timing and reliability. But that shouldn’t encourage you to compete more and more with the bad guys…
Source: Krone
I am George Kunkel, an author working for Today Times Live. I specialize in opinion pieces and cover stories that are both informative and thought-provoking – helping to shape public discourse on key issues. My work is regularly featured across the network’s many platforms, including print media and social media.
