Friday, 10. February 2012

:: Home > General News > More attacks on public transport employees and passengers

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
30	31	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	1	2	3	4

Add your event FREE

Today

Polls

05. 03. 10. - 15:00

More attacks on public transport employees and passengers

Violent attacks on public transport increased sharply last year.

A spokesman for public transport agency Wiener Linien today (Fri) said attacks on passengers had risen by 23 per cent from 253 in 208 to 310, the highest in the last 10 years, in 2009.

He stressed, however, that "it is not the case that there are constant fights on public transport."

He also confirmed a report in Vienna newspaper Heute that the number of attacks on employees had risen by 67 per cent from 43 in 2008 to 72 in 2009.

The spokesman said passenger safety was an agency priority and noted the new service that went into operation last year was supposed to deescalate conflicts before they became serious.

The increase in incidents did little to discourage people from using public transport. The number of passengers rose by 1.02 per cent year on year to 811.9 million.

It attributed the increase to the city public transport system's "internationally outstanding price-quality ratio."

It added that the beginning of a weekend night service on the underground would probably mean a significant increase in the number of underground passengers this year.

City residents narrowly approved the service in a referendum last month.

Although Vienna's public transport is almost universally acknowledged as being first-class, the same cannot be said for the entire country.

The Austrian Traffic Club (VC�) recently reported that a quarter of Austrians needed better connections to public transport.

Austrian Times

Write your comment to this article here

Tag cloud:
quality significant Austrian attributed price internationally residents employees referendum ratio Traffic spokesman agency Vienna attacks passengers risen underground entire quarter

Latest News

Set up tax on financial transactions soon, says Katzian
The head of the Association of Private Employees (GPA-djp) has called for a quick introduction of a tax on financial transactions.

P�hringer rejects U-turn on rightist ball
Young Social Democrats (SP�) have appealed to Upper Austrian Governor Josef P�hringer not to attend the Burschenbundball in Linz this Saturday.

FP� under fire after trip to Grozny
The Freedom Party (FP�) has been harshly criticised for meeting with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

WKO boss wants pension age hike incentives
Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) President Christoph Leitl has identified attempts to raise the average retirement age as the key issue regarding Austria�s budget.

Woman and child run over in Vienna
A woman and child have died in a road accident in Vienna, Austria. The lorry driver was making a right turn when he drove into a group of pedestrians leaving a 59-year-old and a 12-year-old dead. The mother of the school girl was left with serious injuries.

Schlecker says Austrian jobs are safe
The son of Schlecker founder Anton Schlecker has claimed that the company has no plans to sell its Austrian affiliate.

SP� sees smaller parliament as key signal
The general secretary of the Social Democrats (SP�) has argued his support for a reduction of the size of the parliament.

Austrian food to feature in organic trade fair
Austria is expected to be well represented at next week�s BioFach 2012 international organic trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Some 90 companies and organisations from the Austrian organic good sector will feature at the fair from 15 to 18 February.

Brothel for the homeless in Vienna
Homeless people are queueing up for free rooms in an Austrian brothel after owner Peter Laskaris said it would be unfair not to do everything he could during the current cold spell.

Deep-freeze snacks for orangutans in Sch�nbrunn
The lucky orangutans who take up residence in Europe�s oldest zoo have been indulging in a twice weekly take-away. Despite the trees in Sch�nbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria now being completely bare the fury friends have fresh branches and leaves delivered twice a week.