Rajoice and Sing at Semmering (2)

 Bus Travelling At Semmering

Although Streetview doesn't go to the railway station, the noddy car has been past the bus stop, and there is route 343. It is outside what once in times past would have been the Town Hall ...

...where you will now find the Tourist Information Office. Next door is a supermarket and an unexplained roadside obelisk.

Round the back, someone has parked an old railcar in their back garden complete with a non working signal.

It is all fenced off, surrounded by undergrowth and very tatty. fbb can find no explanation but at least it confirms that it is not only the Brits who do potty things with large railway artifacts!

We can discover that the 343 runs from the delightfully named Gloggnitz, where it terminates at the station and, as we see above, finishes its route in Semmering where it doesn't serve the station.

Minimalist research reveals that the operator is VOR which, being interpreted is ...

That level of German is too much for fbb's grade C at "O" level in 1959. but an English version gives an easier picture.

It calls itself an "association" which might be an operators club or a marketing company but looks more like a franchise; VOR seems to operate a group wide fares scheme for example. fbb would expect there to be oodles of regional or national subsidy as part of its business plan.

fbb did wonder about (sh, say it quietly!) a timetable for the 343. But the VOR web site just sat there with its spinner spinning.

The only mildly useful thing that the interwebnet delivered was a list of stops.

Whether the "Old Man at Maria Schulz Ort" lives in the bus shelter was unclear, but he must be English or he would be Der Alte Mann! [Please note: fbb did remember that translation from 1959!]

The terminus at Hotel Panhaus is nearly 100 metres beyond the municipal offices stop.

See the supermarket and the obelisk and, if you peer very closely, you can see the 343 resting serenely outside the town hall, picture above centre right. Never mind, fbb has enlarged it for you!

But, faced with a timetabular desert, fbb was unwilling to abandon his quest and by dint of some technological good fortune did eventually find a 343 table.

Here is an extract from the hourly Montag to Freitag table.

The whole (feeble) service on Samstag offers just three journeys to Semmering ..

... whilst on Sontag you actually get FOUR journeys!

Now, if you were wondering how this VOR "association" works, all you have to do is to look at the front of VOR liveried buses.

Here is one operated by Austria's Postbus company.

And one in the hands of the high speed Komet (?) company ...

... and our 343 from the stable of Retter's.

There are over 20 operators in the "association".

It would appear that the individual companies do not "do" their own publicity but merely have a link to the VOR journey planner.

Access to timetables is not very good.

Standardised fares throughout the region must be a real boon to passengers!

Apart from a non-working web site, the overall "association" seems to work; but fbb can only look on from afar. He simply does not know what the financial arrangements are. Suffice it to say that VOR has expanded its area over the years by absorbing other groupings and it does local trains as well!

Ski's The Thing at Semmering
Ski lifts are public transport, after all!

You cannot ski downhill without going up, so there are various ski lifts available, usually four seater danglers!

One area has a more substantial gondola ride.

The gondola also provides access to the "bike park", a summer alternative to skiing, a sort of BMX track but down steep hills and over terrifying obstacles.

Details of ski lifts are not easy to find but frequent skiers will have their favourite piste. For fbb, the very idea of sliding uncontrollably down a mountain on two narrow planks has never seemed attractive; but then he kept very clear of slides created by the brave kids in his ice-bound infant school playground, A true wimp!

Here is a list of the facilities at Semmering.

Split Park?

It would appear to be the snowboard equivalent of skateboarding with the bonus of crashing into piles of very cold snow.

And curvy rails as well!

And we would all want to do this, surely?

h yes! Oh no!

And a double bonus; at Semmering you can do it all at night under the best floodlights anywhere in the Alps, apparently.

Looks really cool. No; fbb means really cool!

A ride on the ski lift at night might be fun, however!

 7 Days to Go 

RIP

Yesterday, I heard that my Northampton correspondent, Alan Jones, had died. I have known Alan for nearly 70 years and will greatly miss his friendship. He had spent 3 weeks in John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford earlier in the year but seemed to be pretty much back to normal. But then his regular emails stopped. He lived alone and it was only after an enquiry to the Northampton Transport Heritage Trust that his death came to light. He was 81.

fbb

 

 Next Semmering blog : Friday 27th Sept