The Viennese are not necessarily known for their friendliness. However, many Wiener Linien employees cannot confirm this prejudice. A driver of tram line 2 proved in any case that not all Viennese are grumpy: “Hello, this is your captain speaking! I use the short stop: You must have had a stressful week and I wish you a relaxing weekend!”
The Wiener Linien want to cheer up the everyday life of the passengers with humorous sayings. Sometimes with texts on the overhead advertisements, on social media platforms or via announcements. The bus driver Wolfgang Egner also spread a good mood on bus route 59A. A video on Tik Tok shows the bus driver greeting all passengers as they boarded and disembarked. He received numerous commendations in customer dialogue and on social media.
Maintain and support carpooling
“It is important to us to maintain the best car pool in the city,” says press spokeswoman Lisa Schmid. Twitter user Sara Bianca witnessed a subway driver pointing out a lost item to a lady. It immediately puts the ranking of the unfriendliest cities in the world in question.
In a humorous way, however, the Wiener Grant can sometimes be recognized in the “Öffi” announcements. It often happens that passengers block the doors unknowingly or on purpose, thus delaying the departure. The subway drivers are happy to draw attention to door blockages, departure delays or overcrowded carriages. At the Schottentor, a driver reported in the U4: “I don’t care, take my time. I’m already in the orbit!”
“Press, don’t stroke!” Said a driver of tram line 41 over the exit button. At the Volksoper U6 station, passengers jumped into the subway car at the last second, even though the doors were already beeping. “You can buy good hearing aids at Hartlauer,” was the subway driver’s reaction. A subway driver on the U6 at Westbahnhof was not happy when a passenger blocked the door: “Dear passengers, if your dream job is a bouncer, you are unfortunately wrong in the subway.”
Announcements from the control center
Chaos in the subway stations often reigns following major events when the platforms are overcrowded with fans. After the Backstreet Boys concert, concertgoers sang the band’s songs together while waiting for the subway. In such cases, announcements are necessary on the platform, which come from the control center. Next time this will probably be necessary once more at the Danube Island Festival. Even in the event of major disruptions, the announcements come from the control center.
High-ranking visitors at the Volkstheater station
Even Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen was able to personally thank the passengers in the Volkstheater U3 station with an announcement: “Dear passengers, this is Alexander Van der Bellen speaking. I just wanted to say thank you to you today. It’s not all that easy at the moment. And even driving with the public transport can sometimes be quite challenging. Thanks for wearing the mask. Thanks for keeping your distance. Thanks for looking at each other. Have a nice day!”
