Local inspection – lockdown in Vienna: empty streets here, hustle and bustle there

Vienna, the divided city. The city is almost deserted, in other parts of the city there was hustle and bustle and long queues in front of pharmacies and Co. This is shown by the “Krone” local inspection on day 1 of the lockdown.

Different scenes emerged on Monday – day one of the nationwide lockdown – in the shopping streets and neighborhoods of the federal capital: full underground trains in morning and evening traffic, slow traffic flow at the city entrances and a jam in rush hour traffic on the south-east bypass – actually almost like on “normal” weekdays. In contrast to the first lockdown in March 2020, despite the new measures, almost the same number of people commute through the city as before. The city center is almost deserted, with one obvious exception: the city was practically swept empty. There are only a few passers-by strolling past the festively decorated shop windows of closed shops through the narrow streets. Tourists can only be found sporadically. No comparison to the rest of the pre-Christmas season with the usual stream of visitors. The town hall square is also quiet and lonely. The Christkindlmarkt is closed, but at least the Christmas world is still lit. A few underground stations down the line, the picture is completely different. There was no sign of the lockdown on Favoritenstrasse. As on a normal Monday morning, the Viennese streamed through the shopping street. A crowd formed in front of the vaccination box. At the pharmacy on Reumannplatz, passers-by lined up in a long queue to test it. Lively mass activity in Favoriten and FloridsdorfRege frequency is also evident to the left of the Danube, for example at Franz-Jonas-Platz in the center of Floridsdorf. An employee who cleared his sales stand with Advent wreaths and flowers just shrugged his shoulders in disappointment: “For us at BauStandler, the lockdown shortly before Christmas is particularly difficult. At least there is Click & Collect. ”In the branch of a well-known drugstore chain, there is practically no difference in customer frequency compared to the past few days. The shop is full. A look at the conveyor belts at the cash registers shows that not only everyday goods are purchased here Exit restrictions more people are out and about. That is at least the subjective assessment of “Krone” readers and public transport users on Monday. Wiener Linien doesn’t want to present official figures until next week, so let’s take a quick look back: In March 2020 (Lockdown No. 1) there were up to 80 percent fewer passengers. With the easing in summer, more people took public transport again. With the “soft lockdown” last November, there was again a significant minus of 60 percent. On average over the year, the number of passengers has fallen by around 40 percent. In spite of everything, around 574 million passengers traveled by underground, tram and bus in Vienna in 2020. What’s next Wiener Linien and ÖBB want to maintain their timetables (currently).
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