Bus traffic in Vienna

Stop sign of the Accident Hospital Meidling station (63A)

The bus service in Vienna includes all city bus - regional bus - and airport bus -lines in the city of Vienna .

City bus

history

Double-decker bus of the Vienna Public Transport Company, 1921

Double-decker bus on route 61, 1970

City buses in downtown Vienna, 1993

Articulated bus Gräf & Stift GU 230, no longer in use since 2007

Several new Mercedes-Benz Citaro II Euro 6 buses of Wiener Linien in the Spetterbrücke company garage, before their first use

City bus line operated by the Gschwindl transport company

Bus service began in Vienna on March 23, 1907. First experiments were carried out with accumulator cars and trackless railways , before the first bus routes with petrol buses were able to assert themselves after the First World War . Especially in the historic city center, where a tram network could no longer be built due to lack of space, more and more bus routes were gradually introduced. In 1924 the vehicle fleet was so large that a separate main workshop had to be built, which is now located on Simmeringer Haide .

The big breakthrough in wagon design came in 1928 with the construction of the legendary Fross-Büssing buses with the type designation "W IV 0".

Between 1936 and 1953 - interrupted by the Second World War , in which all 130 buses were damaged or destroyed - the buses were converted to diesel engines.

In the meantime, the industry has also built new buses, with the types “120 OGW” from Gräf & Stift and “5 GF” from Saurer in particular shaping Vienna's cityscape for a long time. In order to create a modern bus construction, however, the industry produced several test cars, from which the new standard type crystallized: the large-capacity trambus with underfloor engine and automatic transmission. This type was adapted to the current state of the art from 1958 and was widely used.

To increase the efficiency of the buses, double-decker buses were used from 1960 (in operation until 1991) and articulated buses from 1963 .

Between 1963 and 1977 around 300 buses were converted to run on a diesel / liquid gas mixture. From 1977 onwards, all new buses were equipped with special gasoline engines so that they could now run on pure liquid gas. Since 1988 the buses have also been equipped with exhaust gas catalytic converters .

A special type of bus, which was developed for the cramped conditions in Vienna's inner city, was the “city bus”. These small cars were in operation from 1977 to 1995, but from 1992 they were replaced by more environmentally friendly “midi buses”, which in turn were replaced by VW city buses, which were smaller and quieter.

On the morning of May 21, 2007, Wiener Linien officially withdrew the last high-floor bus with steps by the doors. Since it was a bus on line 14A, which runs through the 5th district of Vienna, this was done at the Margareten district office . Because of the liquefied gas drive, a sale to another operator would hardly have been possible, so either scrapping or a sale to the transport museum Remise , where a high-floor bus has been in the museum's collection since December 24, 2003, was considered. Eventually the bus was sold to a private Austrian collector.

Innovative battery buses from Rampini / Siemens operate on the city bus lines 2A and 3A . They replaced the previously trains running on these lines VW Kutsenits - minibuses . The new cars are equipped with an electric motor, which is charged at the terminal stops by means of pantographs and a short overhead line . In contrast to conventional trolleybuses , however, the pantograph on the roof is not required when driving. A total of twelve such buses are in stock.

In autumn 2013, the complete overhaul of the remaining 500 vehicles in the bus fleet began. The first new vehicles are 217 Mercedes-Benz Citaro and 6 Volvo hybrid buses. The first Mercedes-Benz Citaro II G Euro 6 arrived in the Spetterbücke garage in November 2013, and they have been in regular service on lines 7A and 35A since January 7, 2014, and on line 48A since April 25, 2014.

Line network

There are currently 143 city bus routes (including Rufbus, NightLine and special routes) that operate almost exclusively in Vienna.

A and B lines

The currently 108 lines are marked with a one- or two-digit number and the suffix “A” or “B”, whereby the line system of the tram is based, which was not the case in the early days of bus operation. In the past, the A lines were operated by Wiener Linien itself or on their behalf. Private companies operated on the B-Lines in a collective tariff with Wiener Linien, whereby tickets from Wiener Linien or the transport association were recognized, but only tickets without transfer authorization were sold at the cheaper house tariff in the bus. For several years there has been no difference in this regard. A and B lines with the same number today in some cases denote bundles of lines such as lines 68A and 68B, amplifier lines such as 11A and 11B or opposing circuits such as lines 54A and 54B. There are currently 89 A-lines and 19 B-lines.

Own operation and order lines

43 lines are operated by Wiener Linien itself, 65 lines are operated by subcontractors on behalf of Wiener Linien . By a municipal council resolution in 2007, all expiring concessions were transferred to Wiener Linien . At the same time, they were obliged to tender a certain percentage and to subcontract them. The transfer of the concessions for all city bus routes to Wiener Linien was completed on October 13, 2015 , and all routes are now operated by them or on their behalf.

The following bus transport companies operate on behalf of Wiener Linien:

Dr. Richard (34 lines)
Gschwindl (17)
ÖBB Postbus (13)
Blow molded (5)

The bath line 20B and the cemetery lines 38B and 39B only operate on certain days. The timetables for all A and B lines are created by Wiener Linien , regardless of whether the line is operated by Wiener Linien itself or a subcontractor.

The bus line most popular in terms of passenger numbers is line 13A, which is operated by Wiener Linien itself. The strongest order line is line 5B, which is run by Blaguss on behalf of Wiener Linien . The closest trip sequence (peak interval 3 min.) Is available on the Dr. Richard run line 34A.

"100" regional bus routes

Three lines that run on the outskirts are designated as regional buses with a 100 line signal (106, 124, 125). These are provided by Dr. Richard operated and are part of the offer in the Verkehrsverbund Ostregion (VOR). Also as part of the VOR there are so-called express bus routes (120, 142, 145), which serve fewer intermediate stops compared to other regional bus routes. In addition, there are other regional bus routes that open up areas within the city limits, especially in the south of Vienna.

see: regional bus

Former ASTAX line 44T in Dornbach

On-call bus

All on- call bus lines are operated by the company "Wiener Lokalbahnen Verkehrsdienste" (WLV) with 18 lines on behalf of Wiener Linien . 15 lines operate exclusively as on-call buses (lines 25B, 44B and 49B as well as twelve NightLine lines), three bus lines will be replaced by on-call buses at certain times or in certain sections.

Night bus (NightLine)

Night bus routes are marked with an "N" as a prefix and are operated by Wiener Linien. The line network comprises 31 bus lines, twelve of which are operated exclusively as dial-a-bus by the company " Wiener Lokalbahnen Verkehrsdienste" (WLV) . In addition, line 360 of Wiener Lokalbahnen runs to Baden.

Special lines

Bus lines that run temporarily as a replacement for tram lines are usually given the number of the tram line with the suffix "E". Between March 2014 and September 1, 2017, line 67E operated as a replacement rail service for the section of tram line 67, which was closed due to underground construction work. Line 67E was operated by Blaguss on behalf of Wiener Linien.

Line 78M at Schwedenplatz, 2014

Since September 2014, from mid-March to the end of October, the 78M museum line operated by the “ÖOM Omnibusbetrieb” has been running at a special rate with historic vehicles between Schwedenplatz and the Remise transport museum , with a stop at the Hundertwasserhaus .

The line "39A deleted" to Sieveringer Friedhof , which only runs in All Saints' Day and on Christmas Eve, was the last so-called deleted line in Vienna. It was introduced on November 1, 1985 and operated on the regular route 39A. On November 1, 2012, it was finally renamed line 39B, i.e. H. it last operated on December 24, 2011.

Vehicle fleet

Wiener lines

Autonomous buses

Type	Manufacturer	Drive type	number of vehicles	Years of construction	Wagon numbers	Seats	Standing room	air conditioning	photo
Arma	Navya	electric	2	?	8398-8399	10	0	Yes

City buses

Type	Manufacturer	Drive type	number of vehicles	Years of construction	Wagon numbers	Seats	Standing room	air conditioning	photo
NBA 85	Rampini / Siemens	electric	12	2012-2013	8301-8312	15th	26th	Yes

Normal buses

Type	Manufacturer	Drive type	number of vehicles	Years of construction	Wagon numbers	Seats	Standing room	air conditioning	photo
NL 220 MB	Mercedes Benz	diesel	131	since 2014	8101-8232	29	34	Yes

Articulated buses

Type	Manufacturer	Drive type	number of vehicles	Years of construction	Wagon numbers	Seats	Standing room	air conditioning	photo
NG 265 MB	Mercedes Benz	diesel	221	since 2013	8701-8921	41	88	Yes
NG 265 XL	Mercedes Benz	diesel	62	2017-2019	8501-8562	44	122	Yes

Since May 17, 2007, all buses used in regular service are low-floor.

All buses in Vienna have been air-conditioned since October 14, 2017.

Mercedes-Benz Citaro from Dr. Richard in the 22nd district

Dr. Richard

Mercedes-Benz Citaro IIs are used on routes 45A, 46A, 46B, 88A, 88B, 89A, 98A, 99A and 99B. MAN Lion's City operates on lines 42A, 43A, 43B, 56A, 56B, 58A, 58B, 76A, 76B, 77A, 79A, 79B, 85A, 93A, 95A, 95B, 96A and 97A. MAN articulated buses operate on lines 34A and 73A, and 10-meter-long Mercedes-Benz Citaro II midibuses operate on line 44A.

Gschwindl

Mercedes-Benz Citaro II & Mercedes Citaro II Hybrid operate on the Gschwindl routes, and Citaro II articulated buses on routes 92A and 92B.

Post bus

MAN Lion's City on Postbus order line 94A

Solaris New Urbino 12 and occasionally MAN Lion's City operate on line 7B. MAN Lion's City and Mercedes-Benz Citaro II operate on routes 49A, 52A, 52B. Mercedes-Benz Citaro II operate on routes 47B, 50A, 50B, 71A and 71B. MAN Lion's City and Solaris operate on routes 67A and 67B New Urbino 12. Solaris New Urbino 18 FL operates on lines 68A & 68B.

Blow molding

Mercedes-Benz Citaro IIs operate on the lines run by the Blaguss company (5B, 8A and 94A). Mercedes Citaro II hybrids are in use on lines 47A and 51A.