New mobility market in Austria

With mounting pressure to reduce emissions and turn to carbon-neutral solutions, new mobility services have emerged mostly in metropolitan areas, founding on the principles of sustainability, digitalization and sharing. The new mobility market creates countless alternatives to the private fossil fueled car with an ever-increasing amount of innovations with Austria being a showcase of European novelty.

Also, new mobility services have received important political support since the Green party entered the government coalition in 2019. A strong case is being made for green growth following the pandemic.

This market snapshot is for Canadian companies seeking to do business in the Austrian new mobility who are market active in:

fleet-management
digitalization services
electric or hydrogen mobility
If you need more information or advice about this market and potential opportunities, please contact :

Susanne Knobloch
Email: Susanne.Knobloch@international.gc.ca
Tel. +43 1 531 38 3354

In terms of new mobility services, big cities in Austria are the trendsetters, with Vienna standing out. Generally, larger cities are more advanced than the rest because they host a comparably high number of services/vehicles or they play an important role in pushing the development of new mobility services:

In general, Vienna is the place to be for new mobility services, as the capital city is home to more than 25% of Austria’s population. Other “leading” cities/regions are:

Medium sized cities of Graz, Linz, Salzburg (between 200,000-300,000 people) and Innsbruck, Klagenfurt (100,000-200,000 people)
Smaller cities (between 50,000-100,000 people): Villach, Wels, Sankt Pölten, Dornbirn
Vienna is by far the leading new mobility hub. The start-up scene in Vienna is very active and is significantly backed by the local administration’s effort to increase Vienna’s standard of living through a better-connected mobility system (while also maintaining the prestige of being declared the world’s most liveable city).

Long distance bus
For national routes, Postbus, a subsidiary of the Austrian Rail Company, has a de facto market monopoly and is the largest bus company in Austria. Every year, Postbus takes 213 million passengers to their respective destination and operates in areas where no other public transport connections are available, making it a vital connectivity partner for rural areas.

When it comes to international routes, Flixbus and Regiojet are important players connecting Austria with its neighboring countries (Flixbus – Western and Southern Europe/ Regiojet – CEE). However, we should note that Austrians have a clear preference towards trains.

City transport
Transit in cities or metropolitan areas is usually provided by city owned companies with directly awarded contracts, over 50k.

Rural areas
Generally, those are poorly served as previously mentioned, the most important player being Postbus. Their buses serve around 1,800 municipalities daily, providing public transport connections to even the remotest corners in Austria’s rural areas. Postbus is an essential pillar when it comes to public services in rural areas and has been a trustworthy partner to municipalities for many years. Postbus’ importance has to be contextualized with the lack of alternatives from the private sector, as routes don’t provide sufficient revenue opportunities, further cementing the dependence on private cars.

New mobility
The new mobility market has granted access to various players due to the digitalization of services. Both national and international start-ups are at the forefront of this mobility revolution and cooperate closely with public authorities, which play an important role not only in providing mobility services but also in fueling innovation.

Nevertheless, laws and regulations are constantly evolving and must be analyzed properly both on national and local level before entering a specific market.