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Education, environment, public transport: at the Vienna City Hall, where Neos and Greens have been exchanged as is known, the waves are rising. First, the Greens dazzled on Wednesday with their urgent request to reduce public transport intervals on the SPÖ. The former government partner’s first “urgent” problem in ten years concerned the longest intervals at Wiener Linien. The request was not allowed by the SPÖ for formal reasons: the Reds argue that Wiener Linien is an outsourced legal entity and that it is not part of the community management. “The decision has only legal grounds and is up to the president of the municipal council,” Elisabeth Auer, head of the communications department of the Red Town Hall club, tells the “Wiener Zeitung”.
“The SPÖ hides behind the rules of procedure. Under Michael Häupl, the city government was more transparent, the mayor even answered those questions personally,” criticized Kilian Stark, mobility spokesman for the Vienna Green Party. The eco-party believes that the longer waiting times at Wiener Linien mainly affect people in professions relevant to the system who have to work on weekends.
The Vienna ÖVP also criticized: “Among other things, service providers in the healthcare sector are affected,” ÖVP traffic spokesman Wolfgang Kieslich said in a broadcast, and: “Since many people have to use the car even though they have the annual ticket for Wiener Linien, the validity should be that the annual ticket can be extended. ” The Popular Party is also calling for charges for short-term parking areas to be suspended, such as in the first shutdown, as many people are currently switching to cars to minimize the risk of infection. When asked about Wiener Linien, he said: “We had a massive oversupply and have cut a bit since January 9.” Since then, the metro has been running in the morning hours on weekends and holidays at 10-minute intervals instead of the 7.5-minute interval as before. On Sundays and holidays, the interval between 9 and 10 am changed from 5 to 7.5 minutes.
“Public transport two thirds empty”
On weekends, the trams sometimes only run every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes. “Even with the new intervals, public transport is closed in the relevant period
two thirds empty “, explains Barbara Pertl, press spokeswoman for Wiener Linien, and underlines:” We are in a very lively exchange with our passengers. We only had a handful of complaints about the new intervals. “
Education was discussed at the local council on Thursday. It’s surprising that the Neos are reportedly voting against their own proposal for free afternoon care (meeting only ends after editorial deadline, note). This time, the request was submitted by the ÖVP, but it is literally a request from the Neos from June 2020, when the Pinkies were still in opposition. It is about the equality of interrelated and open schools throughout the day. Because while the interlocking form has been free in Vienna since autumn, the open form, where children can participate in afternoon care every day, still costs up to 2,500 euros per year per child.
“We call on the city government to guarantee justice and equality here,” wrote ÖVP councilor Bernadette Arnoldner in a broadcast. ÖVP education spokesman Harald Zierfuß asked the education councilor and deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr an oral question and was angered by their response: “Wiederkehr avoided the question and instead of answering delivered a hymn of praise to the interrelated schools all day. Elusive, Responsibility to Respond Pushing the pact and diverting attention from the issue shows that returning to this ruling coalition is incapable of enforcing its positions. “
When asked about the Wiener Zeitung, Wiederkehr replied: “The opposition is free to pursue polemics at the state level, while the federal government is constantly holding back when it comes to spending on education. It would make more sense if the ÖVP were in their group. parliamentarians and vis-à-vis the federal government would work to ensure uniform and fair access to free evening care services is implemented throughout Austria. “
Deposit in plastic bottles
However, in line with the federal government is Climate Councilor Jürgen Czernohorszky, who on Thursday (SPÖ) submitted an application for a deposit on plastic bottles and metal cans and binding reusable quotas for drink bottles at the town hall. . In doing so, it supports the efforts of the Minister for the Green Environment, Leonore Gewessler.(lie)
