Free deodorant for sticky commuters on Vienna’s subway

VIENNA’S transport authorities have started handing out free deodorant to commuters on the city’s U-bahn trains sweltering in the summer heatwave.

Deodorants were given to passengers on the U6 line this week as temperatures soared to 95F (35C).

All 14,000 deodorant sprays were given out in a single day.

The deodorants were “torn out of our hands,” said a spokesman for the Wiener Linien public transport company. He said they were intended simply as a “consolation” to hot commuters.

Viennese commuters were no smellier than those anywhere else, he said.

However, he added: “High temperatures can also make one more aware of odours.”

Most of the lines on Vienna’s U-bahn system are air-conditioned, and only on the ageing U6 do passengers still have to endure such heat.

The main problem on the U6 is that trains run overground for part of the route, heating up under the Viennese sun. Older trains have been fitted with tinted windows and ventilation grilles which the public transport company says lowers temperatures by as much as 7.2F (4C).