An underground train crosses a bridge over the Danube river

120 years of public transport in Vienna

In the 120 years of our existence, we have shaped the city: not only local public transport, but also the cityscape. On the occasion of our anniversary, we review special milestones and look to the future with confidence: As a comprehensive mobility provider for Vienna, a city of millions, we are working on the mobility turnaround so that we can continue to offer innovative, climate-friendly solutions to Vienna's largest carpool in the future.

Milestones

1903: On 1 July 1903, the City of Vienna takes over public transport previously run by private companies.

1914: In the First World War, the men are deployed. Women take on jobs that had previously been denied to them. For the first time there are female conductors in Vienna.

1920s: Many municipal buildings and housing estates are built, so public transport has to grow with them: the city railway is purchased and electrified (today the U4 and the middle section of the U6), the tram network is extended and an extensive bus network is set up.

1928: In 1928, Vienna's tram network covered around 292 kilometres. This corresponds to its greatest extension to this day.

1943: In 1943, the year of the war, the number of public transport passengers reaches an absolute record of 732 million - an increase of 56% over the previous year. It will take more than 60 years until the number of passengers reaches a similar magnitude again in 2004.

1944: In 1944, the number of employees reaches its highest level in the 120-year history of Wiener Linien, at almost 18,000.

1964: In Vienna, the first conductorless sidecar is used on line 43. The first completely conductorless train runs on line 26 in May 1972.

1969: After 100 years of planning, construction of the underground finally begins at Karlsplatz on 3 November 1969.

1978: On 25 February 1978 the U1 is opened as Vienna's first underground line. It runs from Karlsplatz to Reumannplatz.

1986: For the first time, the transport network of Wiener Linien comprises more than 800 kilometres. It is thus twice as large as it was at the beginning of the 1930s.

1998: The first passenger information pillar goes into operation at Reumannplatz.

2004: The first passenger advisory board of Wiener Linien is founded. In underground stations there is a free newspaper for the first time.

2010: The introduction of the night metro "Nightline" at weekends is a hit with all night owls.

2014: The new Remise transport museum opens its doors to public transport fans.

2018: We celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony for Vienna's largest climate protection project, the U2xU5 public transport expansion.

2019: The ban on eating in the underground comes into force.

2020: In the Corona pandemic, public transport declines by up to 85% in phases.

Our vision for the future: a green city without private vehicles

We supply comprehensive mobility from a single source.
© Wiener Linien

Wiener Linien is constantly working on advancing the mobility revolution, expanding the public transport network even further and already living the visions of tomorrow today. We are currently shaping the third major mobility revolution since public transport has existed in Vienna. The focus is on sustainability and mobile freedom. In addition to buses, trams and trains, we are supplementing our classic public transport services with our WienMobil sharing offers in order to score points with innovation and flexibility for the next 120 years.

Public transport plus complementary mobility equals mobile freedom

We provide complementary forms of mobility for your mobile freedom.
© Wiener Linien

In the long term, a city will be particularly liveable the fewer cars there are on the road and the more the reclaimed street space is landscaped for us humans. In order to promote a vehicle-free city, our goal is to offer the best public transport services. We are succeeding in this with ongoing network expansion, our climate protection project U2xU5 and innovative solutions such as the complementary mobility offers of WienMobil. In the future of public transport, there will be an even closer interplay between public transport and sharing services, so that Vienna's largest carpool community also has access to all forms of mobility in the immediate vicinity of its home.