National long-distance bus services are an integral part of public transport in many European countries. In Germany, for example, Flixbus and some smaller providers maintain a dense route network. In Austria the situation is completely different and, partly because of the climate ticket, there is no prospect of anything changing.

Long-distance bus transport has not yet been liberalized in the Alpine republic. Obtaining permits requires a lot of patience from operators because the procedures are lengthy and, among other things, give the Austrian Federal Railways a right of veto. The state governments of those federal states in which stops are planned are responsible. In the past, the ÖBB even opposed their own Hellö bus, so that it could only operate in international traffic. There was no transport on domestic routes even if, for example, there was a stop in Graz on the way from Vienna to Croatia or Italy.

The domestic Flixbus routes differ from many international routes in that the concessionaire is not the German company, but Blaguss Reisen and Dr. Richard. Only the marketing of tickets is also carried out via Flixbus. It is a form of franchising, because in external transactions the offers appear under the well-known German brand.

Blaguss Reisen has discontinued Flixbus routes in Germany

In the last few weeks, the Flixbus network in Austria has shrunk significantly. Blaguss Reisen has national connections from Vienna to Klagenfurt sowie von Graz to Salzburg and Linz discontinued for economic reasons. The background is that the Ministry of Transport refuses to include all long-distance bus routes (with the exception of the Postbus service between Klagenfurt and Graz) in the network map. The position is that rail transport has priority and if there is a rail alternative, then you don't want to see buses in the climate ticket. The fact that there are no transfers on the road and that in some cases the journey time is shorter does not play a role for ideological reasons.

At Blaguss Reisen, we no longer see a future for self-funded bus transport, i.e. those that are driven on their own account and operate completely without subsidies. A spokeswoman told Aviation.Direct: “From our point of view, private bus services are only economically viable if they are also reflected in the climate ticket.” But that is exactly what the Ministry of Transport, which Leonore Gewessler calls the Ministry of Climate Protection, refuses to do.

The network card is also advertised with the slogan “One for everything”. There are a number of exceptions on the website. What is striking is that, in addition to the Flixbus services, there are also the Vienna Airport Lines and the City Airport Train, which lead to Vienna Airport. Taking into account the fact that the Gewessler Ministry does not want a stop for the Koralmbahn to be set up at Graz Airport for ideological reasons, as travelers would be taken to the plane, which is supposedly so harmful to the climate, this is no surprise.

Only two Flixbus routes within Austria

But what is the general state of the internal Austrian long-distance bus network, if it can even be described as such? There isn't much left, because the last Flixbus routes within Austria are being managed by Dr. Richard operated and run from Graz to Vienna and to Vienna Airport. This operator also has significantly fewer passengers due to the fact that they are not included in the climate ticket.

“Dr. Richard actually operates the last remaining inner-Austrian long-distance bus routes with the lines 096 Graz-Vienna and X96 Graz-Airport. All other such traffic was destroyed on the one hand by the lack of Corona support (in contrast to the railway) and, as a result, by the non-integration into the climate ticket,” said Dr. Richard Managing Director Werner Gumprecht to Aviation.Direct. “We are also very badly affected by the climate ticket. The loss in passengers on line 096 is 2019% compared to 2020 (2022-45 are not comparable due to the pandemic). We lost a large number of regular passengers, especially students, because of the climate ticket. The fact that we can still manage traffic at a fairly cost-covering level is because we have significantly reduced the timetable compared to before the pandemic. Airport traffic X96 is less affected by the climate ticket, where we have 15% fewer passengers than in 2019. The proportion of regular passengers or frequent public transport riders is lower there, so the climate ticket is obviously not worthwhile for most customers.”

Both Blaguss Reisen and Dr. A few years ago, Richard had the hope - in the shadow of the long-distance bus boom in Germany - that the hoped-for liberalization would also be achieved in Austria. Many routes, which were intended to better link state capitals in particular or better connect Vienna with the federal states, were in the idea phase. Dr. Richard had the advantage on the Graz-Vienna route in that he has had a concession for this route for a long time, which was issued many years ago. The buses were then simply converted to the Mein Fernbus brand and later to Flixbus due to the merger in Germany. The domestic routes operated by Blaguss Reisen were newly licensed and initially marketed as Westbus in cooperation with Westbahn. After Blaguss left Eurolines, all long-distance services were converted to the Flixbus brand.

No new long-distance bus routes within Austria planned

Neither Dr. is currently planning any new domestic routes. Richard still travels with Blaguss. The general conditions appear to be such that it is impossible for both companies to operate such services in an economically viable manner due to the exclusion of long-distance transport from the climate ticket. Neither group of companies is begging for subsidies at all. Rather, it's about being on an equal footing with the rail transport that is included in the network map and being able to take part in the climate ticket under comparable conditions. This would also contribute to improving passenger transport in Austria, as there are numerous regions that are either not reachable by rail or require a difficult and time-consuming change.

“New inner-Austrian long-distance bus services can practically not be put into operation under these conditions, since all routes in question are always connected to the train in parallel, at least in a broader sense. We understand, of course, that the federal government, as the owner of ÖBB, wants to protect it from competition. However, ÖBB never suffered any significant damage from long-distance bus transport in Austria; even in the best of times, long-distance bus transport within Austria generated perhaps three to four per thousand of ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG's turnover. We know from surveys that we have replaced many car journeys with our long-distance bus services. For these people, the train was not a viable alternative to the car. In this respect, the federal government should actually be interested in long-distance bus services in Austria for ecological reasons, even if this perhaps costs the ÖBB a few passengers. Unfortunately, all initiatives to integrate long-distance bus transport into the climate ticket have so far been rejected by the BMK. “So long-distance bus passengers literally remain second-class passengers because they are denied the benefits of the climate ticket,” says Gumprecht.

When in doubt, Austrians prefer to rely on cars

The Ministry of Transport is currently sticking firmly to the doctrine that rail transport, especially night trains, has absolute priority. Other modes of transport, especially long-distance buses and especially airplanes, are probably a thorn in the side of Leonore Gewessler (Greens) for ideological reasons. The fact that the discontinuation of domestic flights does not mean that travelers, unless they have a climate ticket, switch to the rail replacement offers, but rather to their own car and thus travel to Munich, Trieste and Vienna, among others, was highlighted in the most recent statement not even mentioned in the National Council.

Interestingly, many business travelers from Styria seem to trust the long-distance bus more than the train. This segment of people are more likely to switch from cars to Flixbus than to Railjet. Nevertheless, the car remains the main competitor and continues to enjoy great popularity. The climate ticket has changed this very little, because when it comes to the fact that you have to be on time in any case, many Austrians are very reluctant to rely on public transport.