diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/base.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/base.py
index 17d5f6c1..630380c0 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/base.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/base.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class RenderEngine(ABC):
         self.buffered_height = self.height + 2 * self.buffer
         self.buffered_bbox = self.bbox.buffer(buffer, join_style=JOIN_STYLE.mitre)
 
-        self.background_rgb = tuple(int(background[i:i + 2], 16)/255 for i in range(1, 6, 2))
+        self.background_rgb = tuple(int(background[i:i + 2], 16)/255 for i in range(1, len(background), 2))
 
     @abstractmethod
     def render(self, filename=None) -> bytes:
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/svg.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/svg.py
index 4127f17c..129214a5 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/svg.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/render/engines/svg.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class SVGEngine(RenderEngine):
             svg.render_cairo(buffered_context)
 
             # create cropped image
-            surface = buffered_surface.create_similar(cairo.CONTENT_COLOR, self.width, self.height)
+            surface = buffered_surface.create_similar(cairo.CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA, self.width, self.height)
             context = cairo.Context(surface)
 
             # set background color