Drivers with hoods too

Only 6 degrees: Viennese freeze in bitterly cold buses

At seven o'clock in the morning, the display in the bus showed a frosty six degrees Celsius.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

Vienna's public transport operator Wiener Linien is currently giving its customers a cold reception, in the truest sense of the word, and given the current frosty outside temperatures, often even a frosty-icy one. The company openly admits that it is cutting back on heating.

From time to time, the current bitterly cold outside temperatures mean that passengers in Vienna are practically roasted in the seats of older trams or first-generation "Silver Arrow" underground trains: these are still heated by heaters hidden under individual seats. And here, the driver can also regulate the temperature. This is now the exception.

In most cases, staff are powerless
In all other Wiener Linien vehicles, the temperature for passengers is now regulated by "HVAC systems." The abbreviation stands for "heating, cooling, ventilation," in summer and winter alike. Complaining to the driver about the temperature in such vehicles is pointless: they cannot influence the system. It automatically regulates the temperature to the set value using sensors in the passenger compartment and on the outside of the vehicle—at least when the sensors are working.

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At seven o'clock in the morning, the display in the bus showed a frosty six degrees Celsius.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg)

However, Wiener Linien maintains that public transport is now two degrees colder than it was three years ago: in view of the explosion in energy costs, a new heating target of "maximum" 18 degrees instead of 20 degrees was set for winter 2022 and has remained in place since then. So there is an upper limit. However, Wiener Linien did not specify a lower limit for heating public transport. The transport company also admits that the implementation of this temperature target may "vary depending on the vehicle."

In most Wiener Linien vehicles, the temperature is now automatically regulated – when everything is working as it should.(Bild: Manfred Helmer)

First come, first freeze
An extreme case in Döbling this week shows how dramatic the situation can become. An interior temperature of six degrees Celsius created a frosty atmosphere on line 39A. "This is unacceptable for passengers and staff," says FPÖ municipal utilities spokesman Klemens Resch. Drivers are particularly hard hit: they have to drive "wearing hats and full winter clothing." Resch wonders whether the new hydrogen buses might not be suitable for winter in Vienna. There can be no talk of a showcase project when people are freezing on their way to work.

Wiener Linien explains that the bus needs time to warm up after leaving the garage. If it remains cold even after several stops, there is "probably a defect." However, there are no known general problems with the heating system. For everyone who has to go to school or work in the morning, this is a little heartwarming consolation.