Scandal: Fiakers break agreement with the city of Salzburg | VGT

Sugar Mizzy November 15, 2021

Road damage in the 6-digit range, animal suffering is ignored

The way Salzburg’s fiakers dance around on the nose is a scandal. The horses suffer in the city and the fiakers do not even adhere to the award conditions that they accepted in 2018, and force the horses to die through traffic on busy roads such as Schwarzstrasse or Rudolfskai.

Georg Prinz, VGT

Vienna (OTS) – While in the award conditions, on the basis of which the City of Salzburg approved the stands at Residenzplatz 2018 and which were expressly recognized by the Fiaker entrepreneurs, a single permitted route is specified, the Fiakers1 are also on the move and advertise elsewhere in the city these unauthorized journeys are also posted on their homepages. A new video documents these transgressions.

From the Fiakerstandplatz on Salzburg Residenzplatz via Kapitel- and Domplatz, past the festival halls, down through Griesgasse to the Salzach and back via the Haus der Natur, via Hofstallgasse, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse and Alten Markt back to Residenzplatz. That would be the only route allowed by the Fiaker according to the award criteria with the City of Salzburg. In the award criteria, it is even “expressly stated that this route must be adhered to exactly and that driving on alternative road surfaces is not permitted”.

De facto you can see the horse-drawn carriages – and the horse droppings and puddles of urine they left behind die – but also at the Kongresshaus and Mirabellplatz, on Elisabethkai, on the Staatsbrücke, in Schwarzstrasse, on Rudolfskai and at the Volksgarten. Even trips to Hellbrunn are advertised on the homepages.

Explosive detail: the Fiaker repeatedly caused road damage at enormous heights. In 2020, for example, the damage in the old town area amounted to just under EUR 100,000 according to the accounts of the City of Salzburg. However, the Fiaker only pay EUR 531 per carriage and year for damage on the permitted route. With 14 stands, that makes a mere EUR 7.434. Who pays for the difference? And who is responsible for the damage that occurs on the road surfaces that the fiacers use in violation of the contract?

Georg Prinz from the VEREIN GEGEN TIERFABRIKEN comments: “The way Salzburg’s fiakers dance around on the nose is a scandal. The horses suffer in the city and the fiakers do not even adhere to the award conditions that they accepted in 2018, and force the horses to die through traffic on busy roads such as Schwarzstrasse or Rudolfskai. The award conditions also regulate ‘That in the event of non-compliance with one or more criteria / conditions’, which also includes the route, ‘Despite a previous one-off written reminder by registered letter, the civil law permit issued for the stand in the Residenzplatz area is revoked with immediate effect’. The city has written down itself and practically committed itself. This has long been a necessary step. The Fiaker pay the city only 531 euros per stand and year, but cause annual road damage in the 6-digit range. Who pays for the difference? The citizens of the city of Salzburg? ”

(1) So far, 13 of the 14 carriages could be observed and documented how the route was not followed.

Download link: Documents and screenshots from the homepages of the Fiaker companies

Photo credits: Fiaker violations of the routes (Copyright: VGT.at)

Media cut for the video evidence