Driving & Transport

With the streetcars and busses of the LINZ AG LINIEN (LINZ plc LINES) you get to your destination in the city quickly, comfortably and without stress. This is not only due to the extensive network of public transportation lines and stops, but also to a special acceleration program. Thanks to it, streetcars always have green lights. Busses have lanes of their own in many areas, so they never get stuck in traffic jams.

For night owls there are two additional offers: a collective taxi you can call by phone (Anruf-Sammel-Taxi [AST]), which operates from 8 pm to 5 am, and night transportation lines. These include the streetcar line N1 (university-Auwiesen) and three bus lines that always operate in the nighttime on Friday, Saturday and before holidays. Timetables and plans of transportation lines as well as the times when the streetcars and busses depart from the stops and other information can be downloaded from www.linzag.at/efa.

Tickets:

The LINZ AG LINIEN have the right offer for every passenger. In addition to short distance and long distance tickets as well as ones for the entire day there are also tickets for a week, a month and a year. Reductions are offered for schoolchildren, students, apprentices, working people, seniors and people who have an active pass. Since July 2013 a special offer has been available for people who have their main residence in Linz. They can purchase a one-year ticket for the entire network, a so-called environment ticket, for 285 euros.

Normal and advance-sale tickets can be purchased from dispensing machines or advanced sales stores such as “Trafiken” (tobacco and magazine stores) and the LINZ plc customer center. Certain tickets can be purchased up to 30 days in advance on the Internet at www.linzag.at/shop-linien (German).

LINZ AG LINIEN-Infocenter
4020 Linz, Hauptplatz 34 (next to the Old City Hall),
www.linzag.at/linien (German)
Opening hours: Monday–Thursday: 9am–6 pm and Friday 8am–2pm
Can be reached by phone: Monday–Friday 7am–6pm under the number +43 732 3400 7000

Linz is a good place for people who like to travel by bicycle. Bicycle riders are allowed to use all of the bus lanes in the area of the city and in many one-way streets they can go in the opposite direction on special lanes. Bicycle riders can position themselves in front of the waiting cars at traffic lights on extra bicycle stripes. That enhances their safety when they turn left at street crossings.

The city will lend you transport accessories for your bicycle free of charge. Many different kinds of bicycle trailers are available. You can keep them for a week. To borrow a bicycle you must merely present an identification document with a photograph and sign a lending agreement. Contact: +43 732 7070 3191.

In Linz there are two bicycle service stations that can be used free of charge. One of them is on the fairgrounds in Urfahr (Urfahraner Jahrmarktgelände), on the wall of the market building, where it can be accessed round the clock. The second one is in the rear area of the foyer of the Old City Hall on the main square (Hauptplatz) and can be used during the opening hours of the Tourism Service Office. 

There are lockers in the Old and the New City Hall where you can leave your purchases or your luggage. They are 30 cm wide, 50 cm high and 70 cm deep. It costs one euro to use one.

Your contact person for everything that has to do with bicycles:
Radfahrbeauftragter der Stadt Linz
(Commissary for Bicycles of the City of Linz)
DI Rainer Doppelmair
Planning, technology and environment, Division Traffic Planning.
Neues Rathaus
Hauptstraße 1–5, 4041 Linz
Tel.: 43 732 7070 3191

For safety reasons you must put on your seat belt and use child safety devices when driving. Cars must have winter tires during the colder months. These and other rules (for example that you have to buy stickers to drive on the expressways) are explained in detail at www.help.gv.at in the section on free time and mobility.

For persons whose main residence is Linz the Provincial Police Headquarters in Linz is responsible for matters concerning driver’s licenses:

Landespolizeidirektion Linz
(Provincial Police Headquarters in Linz)
Nietzschestraße 33, 4021 Linz
Tel.: +43 59133 45
LPD-O@polizei.gv.at

Driver‘s licenses

EU and EEA driver’s licenses are valid in Austria, so the drivers can use them as long as they want to. They can also be exchanged for Austrian driver’s licenses on a voluntary basis. Persons who are not EEA citizens can continue to use their foreign driver’s licenses for six months after having transferred their main place of residence to Austria. After six months at the latest they must however obtain an Austrian driver’s license. Only valid foreign driver’s licenses can be exchanged. If they have expired in the country they were issued in, they are not valid in Austria.

If driver’s licenses from outside of both the EU and the EEA are transferred to Austrian licenses, the applicant has to take a practical examination. To do so, he/she must provide an appropriate vehicle of the class the exam is to be taken for. Persons with a driver’s license from the Republic of Serbia always have to take a practical driving examination. Because of bilateral agreements persons from the following countries do not need to take a practical driving test:

All classes of licenses: Andorra, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland.
Class B: Australia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Canada, Republic of South Africa, Republic of South Korea (for licenses issued before 1th January 1997), USA.

The person with the foreign driver’s license must be at least 18 years old.

Time limits: Driver’s licenses from outside of both the EU and the EEA must be transferred to Austrian licenses within six months after the first time a residence was established in Austria

Automobile registration

A person who establishes his main place of residence in Austria and brings his vehicle along with him is entitled to drive with the foreign license plate for exactly one month. After that he must register the vehicle in Austria. To do so the following offices must be contacted: The Examination Office of Upper Austria (Landesprüfstelle für Oberösterreich), where the required automobile documentation can be obtained, and The Internal Revenue Service (Finanzamt) to determine the fees that have to be paid.

After these prerequisites have been fulfilled, the applicant can go to the insurance company of his/her choice to have the car registered. A list of the insurance registration offices can be downloaded from www.vvo.at (German). The insurance company takes care of the registration of the vehicle. Before an Austrian license plate can be obtained a third party (liability) insurance must be concluded.

Landesprüfstelle für Oberösterreich
(Provincial Examination Office)
Goethestraße 86, 4021 Linz
Tel.: +43 732 7720 13575

Finanzamt Linz
(Internal Revenue Service Linz)
Bahnhofplatz 7, 4020 Linz
Tel.: +43 5 0233 233

Parking in the inner city

The inner city is divided into five resident parking zones. All of those persons who have their main place of residence there and do not have a private parking place are entitled to apply for a resident’s parking card (subject to charge). It can be obtained from the Citizens’ Service Center in the New City Hall or one of the city libraries. It entitles you to park free in one of the zones for an unlimited period of time. It can also be ordered by phone (+43 732 7070) or online at www.linz.at (German). Along with the card you get a map of the area in which you are entitled to park gratis. 

Parking anywhere in the short parking zones of the inner city of Linz is subject to a charge. The zones are marked in blue on the curbs of the sidewalks and in the traffic lanes of the streets. Signs at the beginnings and end of each zone tell you the hours during which parking has to be paid for – generally Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. They also show the maximal duration of parking, which ranges from 30 to180 minutes. Parking costs 1 euro per half hour. You can pay the fee at the parking ticket machine, either with coins or with a card that has a quick function. It is also possible to pay by mobile phone after you have registered with a provider; details can be found on the Internet at www.mobil-parken.at (German). Please remember that a yellow line along the edge of the sidewalk or on the lane in the street indicate that stopping and parking are prohibited.

In the inner city a number of underground and multi-storey car parks can be found, in addition to the short-time parking places.

In some places the sidewalks are at the same level as the streets, for example in Herrenstraße and Klosterstraße. The aim of the shared space is to establish equal rights for all forms of mobility and for all of the participants in the traffic of Linz. The weak ones such as pedestrians and cyclists should be accorded the same importance as vehicle drivers.

Mobility Counseling is a service that was established in Linz at the initiative of the Department of the Environment and Traffic of the city in 2000. Its team offers consultations free of charge on matters relating to traffic in the city. Enterprises, schools, institutions and private persons can turn to it for advice. Among other things it coordinates the annual campaign “Linz moves on two wheels” for the employees of the firms and the health care facilities of the city.