Vienna parking sticker torments commuters | kurier.at

“They” probably mean commuters from Lower Austria and Burgenland. As the KURIER local inspection showed, they found two ways out. First, the parking garages. For example, the Park & ​​Ride facility at the U4 station in Heiligenstadt was significantly fuller than usual. The large garage operators “Best in Parking” and “Apcoa” confirm the impression: The utilization has increased “noticeably”, they say.

And on the other hand, some commuters simply parked further outside – in order to then take the train to Vienna. Still others switched entirely to public transport and took the bus to the train. “It’s a bit busier today than usual,” said a train driver who was waiting with many others at Baden station on Tuesday morning for a Wiesel train to Vienna.

Car parks well filled

In the Vienna area, the ÖBB car parks were full, but not overloaded. The situation in Langenzersdorf, which borders directly on Vienna, was different: the residents had a hard time finding a parking space near the train station in the morning. Where usually only the parking spaces intended for rail customers are occupied, on Tuesday almost all streets near the station were parked up to the last meter.

Because the parking sticker is only intended for people with their main residence in Vienna, communities in Burgenland fear greater migration to the federal capital. ÖVP commuter spokesman Johannes Mezgolits also refers to this: “In my home community, that could be five to ten people.” ÖVP traffic spokesman Georg Rosner argued similarly.

For several years now, the state has had the option of a cheap parking space in one of the “Wipark” garages – according to general traffic coordinator Peter Zinggl, 400 parking spaces are currently still available. He also recommends that day commuters in particular find out about public transport connections. These are usually better than their reputation.

The representative of commuter concerns at state level is Wolfgang Sodl, member of the state parliament and commuter spokesman for the SPÖ Burgenland. In an interview with the KURIER, he emphasizes that he sees the latest measures to make public transport more attractive – keyword climate ticket, which is a cheap alternative for commuters.

plans and criticism

As far as the parking sticker is concerned, one should not forget those who remain dependent on the car to get to work – be it because of the remoteness of their place of residence or their working hours. Here they work together with representatives of the Vienna city government, the Chamber of Labor and trade unions on possible solutions. Vienna owes this to its workforce in Burgenland, affirms Sodl: “The people of Burgenland were and are hard-working and reliable ‘hackers’ in many sectors.” New and inexpensive offers are conceivable for him, especially for Burgenland commuters – either with the parking space manager “Wipark” or even its own “parking sticker for Burgenlanders”, based on the commuter flat rate.