FAQs on Graz Lin­ien

Graz Linien are a business division of Holding Graz. Their task is to transport passengers in and around Graz in a safe and comfortable way.

Graz Linien are out and about on a total of around 340 kilometres in and around Graz.

Our employees in the service quality team will be pleased to assist you every day between 7 am and 5 pm on the telephone number +43 316 887-4224. Another possibility of voicing your opinion is to use our online feedback form which you can access via the link below.

Graz Linien offer you the free app “GrazMobil”.

• “GrazMobil” provides you with information on where to find your nearest stop and when the next bus or tram will arrive (real-time). The app also offers a route planner.
• The app also offers information about “tim” and other mobility services. You can find more information on this in the banner below!

Graz Linien offers the appropriate vehicle for every occasion. In addition to the buses and trams, the fleet also includes our own event transport with three modern coaches, a cabrio and an oldtimer bus, three oldtimer trams and an info bus. You can book them at [email protected] or on the telephone number +43 316 887 4222. Info on our event transport can be found in the link below!

In total, the length of the tracks laid in the municipal area of Graz amounts to 73.612 km (including all sheds, workshops and sidings), of which 61.778 km are actually driven on by trams as part of the scheduled service.

Calculated over the entire year, our buses travel approx. 25,000 kilometres a day on average and our trams approx. 41,500 kilometres. Our vehicles in total therefore travel more than 66,000 km a day on average.

For more than 140 years. In 1878, the first horse-drawn tramway was in operation on the route between Südbahnhof (now Central Station) and Jakominiplatz. More on the history of the tram below!

Our drivers are on duty for you every day from 4.30 am until midnight. Only on Christmas Eve do they finish work early at 6 pm.

The night bus lines N1 to N8 start at half past midnight from Jakominiplatz in the night of Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday and before public holidays. Info on this can be found in the folder below!

As a general rule, timetable times are for guidance only; how precise they are often depends on external influences (e.g. increased volume of traffic, obstacles or people parking on the tracks). If the guidance time indicated in the timetable cannot be kept, it is particularly important that the intervals of the respective line continue to be adhered to, i.e. that the next bus or the next tram comes as usual, e.g. at 7-minute intervals.

Incidentally, real-time departure times can be found in our free app “GrazMobil”. Info below!

In principle, the timetables of the lines that constitute connection hubs (e.g. final tram stops) are coordinated with one another. In order to keep to the intervals stipulated, however, it may be the case that no direct connection is possible and there may be brief periods of waiting.

In principle, our drivers are sensitised to waiting for connections wherever possible and to permit passengers hurrying towards their vehicle to board. However, passengers are frequently in a blind spot and cannot be seen by the driver. With some trams, there is also no wing mirror, meaning that the driver cannot see passengers who approach from the rear of the vehicle.

Compliance with the timetable or the intervals stipulated means that the vehicle has to depart promptly. We ask our passengers to comply with the rule “Let people get off before you get on” at stops; this leads to a shorter space of time spent at the stop and ensures that the timetable can be complied with.

The zone of the historic city tram is based the tram route Jakominiplatz – Hauptplatz and applies for one more stop in each case. Between the stops Südtirolerplatz/Kunsthaus, Hauptplatz, Schloßbergplatz/Murinsel, Jakominiplatz, Kaiser-Josef-Platz, Dietrichsteinplatz and Finanzamt, the trams can be used free of charge (i.e. without a ticket). This rule also applies for tram replacement services with buses between these stops. Info on the historic city tram can be found in the link below!

The times indicated on the timetables are guidelines. However, our drivers will try at all times to stick to them.

The holiday timetables apply on our lines during the statutory (school) holiday periods (summer, Christmas, term and Easter holidays).

There are hourly, 10-zone, daily, weekly, monthly, half-yearly and annual tickets. In addition, there are tickets for various target groups, such as the Graz 72-hour ticket for tourists, student cards for students, discounted tickets for children up to the age of 15 or for people with impaired mobility.

All the info about our tickets can be found in the link below!

Graz Linien offers four ways to buy tickets:

• • Free app “Graz Mobile” (hourl cards and other tickets)
  • Mobility and Sales Centre (half-yearly and annual tickets, Job Ticket)
  • Ticket machines in trams and at selected stops (hourly card to monthly card)
  • Tickets in around 100 kiosks (hourly ticket to monthly ticket)

More info in the link below!

In addition to the ticket machines in the trams, there are stationary ticket machines of Graz Linien in Graz. These ticket machines are located at the central station in the area of the tram stops in both directions of travel and in the stop area of Lines 58 and 63. Other ticket machines are located at Hauptplatz (both directions of travel), at Jakominiplatz (near the rondel) and in the stop area Liebenau/Murpark, at Hasnerplatz, at LKH Med Uni/Klinikum Nord, in St. Leonhard/Klinikum Mitte, Bad Straßgang and at Griesplatz.

The duration of the ticket’s validity is noted on the ticket. An overview of all available tickets in Graz can be found here; for details and info on other zones please click on the homepage of Verkehrsverbund Steiermark (link below).

The exact prices for all tickets with which you can use the vehicles of Graz Linien can be found in the link below.

Specifically for parents with children there is the family discount for joint trips by public transport in Styria. As proof of eligibility, each parent requires the free-of-charge Styrian family pass “ZWEI UND MEHR” (“TWO AND MORE”).

Two discounts are thus possible:

• • The parents have a valid network ticket: The registered children (up to the age of 15) can then travel free of charge on joint journeys.
  • The parents do not yet have any ticket: They then pay around 40 per cent less for joint journeys with their children using any hourly ticket or 24-hour ticket. And: Children also travel free of charge in this case too until they turn 15.

Important note: If you take children to pre-school or school and then continue on alone, the family discount is not suitable as the entitlement only applies if you are travelling together. In this case, a normal weekly, monthly or annual ticket is cheaper – because here too children can travel free of charge (2 children under the age of 6).

Children under the age of 6 may use the entire route network of Graz Linien free of charge.

Until they turn 15, children pay 50% of the normal price for standard tickets; once they turn 15 and until they turn 19, young people pay 38% of the normal fare.

A half-fare is to be paid for the carriage of a dog, unless it is a trained assistance dog (please carry the valid pass with you!) or the guide dog of a blind passenger. No fare needs to be paid for small dogs (also including other small animals) which are carried in a suitable container.

As a fundamental rule, the following applies: Dogs with a bite-proof muzzle may be transported if they can be accommodated without disturbing or obstructing the other passengers. They must be carried or kept on a short lead. There is no obligation for guide dogs or assistance dogs to wear a muzzle. Further info on this can be found in the link below!

Any travel card with a photo can be replaced! However, there must be a notification of loss or theft and this must be presented in the Mobility and Sales Centre.

Immediate payment: € 105 for tram or bus travel without a valid ticket for adults, € 53 for persons who have not yet reached the age of 18.

Payment by payment slip: € 135 for adults, € 68 for persons who have not yet reached the age of 18. In case of a reminder, the fee increases to € 155 (€ 78 for persons under 18).

You do of course have the option of asking the Graz Parking Space Service or to the responsible employees of Graz Linien to review the fine. Further info on this can be found in the link below!

In buses yes (no selling of tickets) but not on trams. In the case of the tram, passengers have to use the marked door (ticket symbol) and buy a ticket directly from the ticket machine.

Passengers are entitled to take easily portable items with them on the vehicles free of charge. More info on this can also be found in our terms and conditions of carriage below.

Unfortunately, large items like bicycles (this excludes portable foldable and fold-up bikes and scooters in a folded condition) may not be transported in the bus or tram for legal reasons.

Yes, boarding with a pram is possible on all vehicles. The right door for boarding is marked with a pram symbol.

Our employees are instructed to assist people with disabilities in getting on and off the bus or tram. More info on the topic of accessibility at Graz Linien in the link below.

Please contact the lost property service of the city of Graz at Annenstraße 19, tel. 0316-872-2390 or www.fundamt.gv.at.

In the interest of safety in the vehicle, the instructions from the driver must be followed.

No, not always, as the trams have an average length of between 20 and 27 metres and the older versions do not have any wing mirror, the driver cannot see as far as the last door (in 1999, it was stipulated in the tram ordinance that trams must have a side-view mirror). In particular, with curves in the track in the final stop area, there is no view of the doors.

By pressing the “Request stop” button, you make it known to our drivers that you wish to get off at the next stop. The doors then open within the stop area and make it possible for you to get off.

Among other things, the vehicles must comply with the valid regulations of railway law and the tram ordinance.

The safety area for rail vehicles was regulated anew in the course of the amendment to railway law. On the basis of a phased plan agreed with the traffic planning department, the safety area pursuant to Section 19 of the tram regulation and the regulation governing the protection of railway employees will be established gradually for all new vehicles in the existing network of Graz Linien next to each platform to protect people. The Variobahn can be used in scheduled transport with passengers everywhere where the new safety guidelines can already be met. For all other route sections, only “old” tram vehicles may be used, i.e. those that were already in use before the amendment to railway law.

An overview of all the criteria:

• • After the expiry of a certain period of use, our fleet has to be taken out of service and replaced by new vehicles. The requirements of new trams and buses are defined in collaboration with the traffic planning department of the city of Graz and the representation for visually impaired people and people with impaired mobility.
  • The procurement is carried out according to the best-bidder principle and pursuant to the respectively last valid statutory provisions, in particular pursuant to the special provisions regarding the procurement of trams according to Section 237 of the Federal Law for Contract Awards (BVergG), (operations-related energy and environmental effects over the lifetime).
  • To facilitate the submission of an offer, specifications will be created by Graz Linien at the start of the EU request for proposals and these specifications include all the technical requirements, characteristics and features of the vehicles that have to be met). After receipt of the offers, the best bidder will be selected according to a points system and a corresponding weighting of the individual criteria (weight of importance). Procurement recommendations of the Association of German Engineers (VDI; topic of life-cycle costs, etc.), own experiences and those of other similar transport companies are taken into account in the decision-making process.

Yes, railway law stipulates emission thresholds that a tram has to comply with and these are also complied with by Graz Linien. In the case of buses, certain approval criteria must be met for the type approval. The noise emissions, amongst other things, are evaluated in the procurement of buses. Vehicles with low noise emission figures are preferred and rated more highly.

This is due to the environmentally friendly bio diesel which our buses use in the summer. This bio diesel is produced from rapeseed oil.

In most cases, Holding Graz Urban Space department and in exceptional cases (provincial and national roads) the federal government or the province are responsible for maintaining the roads in the municipal area.