The other day I was at my boyfriend’s company party. I got to meet a couple of his colleagues who have moved to Graz recently to work with him. During our conversation, an interesting topic came up: which apps are useful to navigate around Graz.
Coming from bigger European cities, where everything is available by tapping on a screen, some were surprised with the choices of apps in Graz. Uber is not available in Graz, for example (though it was being tested up until recently).
There is no denying that we live in a digital world and more and more companies are digitalising their services. It avoids a lot of headaches to know what applications can be useful for your day-to-day life in Graz.
Below are a couple of apps I find to be useful for my life in Graz.
Maybe they could help you too in the future!
Useful apps for transport in Graz
BusBahnBim
With the BusBahnBim app you can check for bus, tram and train routes in Graz (and also all over Austria). You can plan your trip for now or in advance. It gives you different route options, it says how long it will take and what it will cost.
I use this app all the time to know when I need to leave my house to catch the tram to go somewhere. It’s great also for navigating Vienna. I highly recommend it, because it’s simple to use and very accurate.
Google Play store: BusBahnBim
Apple App store: BusBahnBim
Web App: BusBahnBim
GrazMobil
The Graz transport company is trying to digitalize more and more. With GrazMobil, they are trying to get people to buy tickets with their phones instead of phisically. Long-term, they would like to remove all ticket machines in Graz.
If you buy tickets over the app, you get a 10% discount.
It’s a pretty good app to have handy when the ticket machine on the tram doesn’t work.
Qando Graz
Qando tells you real-time when the next bus or tram will arrive at the stop or station you choose. You can also plan your journey, though only for the short-term.
I prefer the BusBahnBim app because I am the type of person who likes to plan ahead. But many people use it, so it’s worth mentioning.
TIM Car Sharing
Car Sharing has come to Graz and in the form of electric cars. There are many charging stations in Graz where you can collect the car and take it for a spin.
The phone apps are apparently not that great, since they only have 1-star reviews. Thus I will just link the Web App below.
Easy Way (e-moped sharing)
Easy Way is powered by Öamtc (Austrian Automobile Club). You see on the map where e-mopeds are parked in Graz. You reserve one and use it to get to places. Then you just park it somewhere and somebody else can take it. The batteries are changed by Öamtc during the night, so you don’t have to worry about taking the moped to a charging station.
I heard great reviews about this and I still haven’t tried it yet. But I definitely will in the near future!
878 & 889 Taxi
As I mentioned before, there is no Uber in Graz yet. This is the closest you can get to it. The app shows you where available taxis are near you. You can book a trip and it also shows you a estimate of how much it will cost.
This was a life-saver for me when I broke my leg and could simply book a taxi with a few clicks.
889 is only available for Android
Easypark
I have loved this app ever since I have started using it a couple of months ago. It makes parking in Graz so much quicker and efficient.
You park your car, set on the app how long you will stay there and start parking. If you need longer, you can just extend the parking through the app. The great thing is that you do not need coins with you and you always pay only for the time you were parking there.
The bad thing is that the city of Graz wants you to print out an orange badge first. This needs to be placed on your dashboard when the car is parked. It makes it a slight inconvenience for visitors in Graz.
Google Maps (for bike routes)
I am sure I don’t need to explain what Google maps is. I just put it there since I find it very useful to learn about cycling routes in Graz. Many times I learned about shortcuts that I didn’t even know existed!
Google Maps is not good for public transport in Graz as it is in other cities. Maybe one day we’ll have this option, but I don’t think it will come any time soon.
Useful apps for travel from Graz
Flixbus
Flixbus is well-known in Europe for bus travel across the continent. Many buses leave from or pass through Graz. I think there are around 20 connections a day only for Vienna!
Very nice and eassy app to use, I prefer booking tickets there than on the webpage.
Omio
Omio wants to get you to your destination by creating routes including buses, trains and air travel. When you buy the tickets over this app, they will be all in one place, even if they are from different companies.
Oebb
The Austrian Federal Railway has its own app as well. You can see travel connections, book your tickets and have them ready in your app via QR code.
Useful apps for food delivery in Graz
Too Good To Go
With this app, you can find out which restaurants and cafés in Graz are selling off their leftover food at a cheaper price. It is a great idea to do something against food waste. But be quick to order, because the food packages run out fast!
Velofood
As I mentioned before in my blog post about sustainable living in Graz, Velofood offers sustainable food delivery. I think it’s really great that they have an app now too!
Lieferservice
Lieferservice is the German name for Takeaway.com. Over the app you can see what restaurants are nearby, order your food and see when it will be delivered.
Mjam
Mjam is actually part of Lieferservice. They were bought some years back by the Dutch giant, but the name was kept so not to lose clients. It’s basically the same concept as Lieferservice.
Useful apps for students in Graz
Studo
Studo is a very successful start-up from Graz. Now it is expanding to Vienna and other cities in Austria and Germany.
In one app, students can see their calendar, their classes, their emails, a campus map and even a lunchtime menu.
I wish I had this app when I was a student in Graz!
Studo jobs
This is a child of the aforementioned Studo app. It’s a job portal with student-friendly job offers. It can be useful if you want to earn something to upport your student party lifestyle.
Useful apps for health & safety in Graz
Stadt Graz Heimweg App
Graz is not a dangerous city, but everyone can feel unsafe walking home alone at night. Through this app, you can talk on the phone with someone while you walk home. They will stay in contact with you until you are safely home.
Graz Defi App
Hopefull you will never need it, but there’s nothing wrong in knowing where defibrillators are in Graz. This app shows on a map where the closest defibrillator is.
Schau auf Graz
We all want to live in a city that we can be proud of. And this app wants you to help the city administration to do that. If you see anything unpleasant, like trash on the ground, broken things or holes on the street, you can inform the city about it through the app. They will then take care of it.
The reviews criticise the city administratin for this app, saying that it makes citizens do their job. But I think it is great to get citizens involved and take responsibility for the city they live in.
