How to annoy people on the metro in Austria

If you want to make enemies quickly in Vienna’s underground or an S-Bahn in Lower Austria, you do not need to try very hard.

A group of teenagers listening to loud music on their phones, someone scrolling their Instagram feed right next to you (sound on, headphones off), or even a person loudly having a conversation with their ears glued to their cellphones. Most of the ways Austrians get annoyed by other people in public transport involve phones.

That is why Vienna’s public transport operator, Wiener Linien, and the city councillor responsible for transport, Ulli Sima, plan to present a campaign against loud phone calls on public transport in the first half of March. Sima said the idea is to do it with “Wiener Schmäh” – the Viennese sense of humour.

The campaign is backed by a representative survey commissioned by Vienna’s SPÖ, which asked what behaviour people find most irritating on public transport.

The fastest way to annoy everyone: loud phone calls

The clearest result was also the least surprising. A total of 85 percent said loud phone calls were the thing that bothered them most.

Loud music came next. Around 63 percent said they were annoyed by people listening to music loudly.

Adults eating on public transport also made the list. Around 41 percent said they did not like it when adults eat in the carriage.

These are not exactly niche complaints. They point to a basic tension in shared public space, as many passengers view their ride as a quiet journey between work and home to read, think, or decompress. If you want to irritate people, the recipe is simple: make your private life everybody’s background noise.

Should there be fines for bad behaviour?

The survey did not just ask what annoyed people. It also asked whether there should be penalties for those who do not follow the rules.

A clear majority said yes. Around 73 percent of public transport users supported fines, 23 percent were against, and the rest did not express a view.

Interestingly, the numbers were similar even among people who do not use public transport. Around 72 percent supported fines, while 21 percent were against.

That suggests the issue is not only about daily commuting frustration. It is also about a broader sense of what public behaviour should look like. Even if you are not on the U-Bahn every day, you probably have opinions about how people should behave in shared spaces.

Who is most in favour of penalties?

Support for fines varied by age. Among those aged 60 and over, 79 percent supported penalties. Among under-30s, support was lowest, but still a clear majority, at 70 percent.

There was also a difference by gender. Men were more supportive of penalties (76 percent) than women (68 percent).

The biggest variation came when respondents were grouped by their stated party preference, although every group still had a majority in favour.

Support was highest among those who said they preferred the ÖVP (89 percent) and FPÖ (80 percent). It was 76 percent among Neos supporters and 68 percent among SPÖ supporters. Green sympathisers were more hesitant at 59 percent, and support was lowest among KPÖ supporters at 51 percent.

Eating, dogs, and a few quirks

The survey also picked up some smaller differences in what people find annoying.

Eating on public transport irritated between 40 and 45 percent across most political groups, with one standout. Only 18 percent of Green sympathisers said they were bothered by eating in the carriage.

Dogs without a muzzle also drew mixed reactions. The survey suggested that SPÖ supporters were the most irritated by dogs without a muzzle, with 43 percent saying it bothered them. Among Neos supporters, that figure was lower, at 29 percent.

Vienna has tried to regulate behaviour before

This is not the first time Vienna has tried to shape what is considered acceptable behaviour on public transport.

In 2019, an eating ban was introduced on all U-Bahn lines to reduce dirt and unpleasant smells. At the time, Wiener Linien ran a survey that drew around 50,000 responses. Two-thirds of respondents supported the ban on eating.

So what counts as ‘metro manners’ in Austria?

Keep your volume down. Do not turn the carriage into your living room. If you need to take a call, do it quietly and briefly, and do not put it on speaker. If you are listening to music, use headphones and keep it to yourself. And if you do eat, accept that many people will judge you for it, even if the rulebook isn’t always obvious.

The upcoming campaign will try to turn those unspoken expectations into a public message, using humour and a familiar Vienna tone. Whether it changes behaviour is another question.

Key vocabulary

Öffis – colloquial term for public transport

Wiener Linien – Vienna’s public transport operator

Verkehrsstadträtin – city councillor responsible for transport

Wiener Schmäh – typically Viennese humour or witty style

Essverbot – eating ban

Beißkorb – muzzle for a dog

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How to annoy people on the metro in Austria