Transport in Bucharest
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Bucharest boasts the largest transport network in Romania, and one of the largest in Europe. The Bucharest transport network is made up of a metro network and a surface transport network. Although there are multiple connection points, the two systems operate independently of each other, are run by different organisations (the metro is run by Metrorex and the surface transport network by RATB) and use separate ticketing systems, often making transfer between the systems difficult. Due to this, the two transport systems were unified in January 2007, and the Bucharest Metropolitan Transport Board established and a single ticketing system.
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[edit] Bucharest Metro
- Main article: Bucharest Metro
Bucharest has a fairly extensive subway system consisting of four lines: M1, M2, M3 and M4, and run by Metrorex. In total, the network is 63km long and has 45 stations, with 1.5km average distance between stops. It is one of the fastest ways to get around the city.
[edit] Surface transport
Surface transport in Bucharest is run by Regia Autonomă de Transport Bucureşti (RATB) and consists of an extensive network of buses, trolleybuses, trams and light metros. The RATB network is one of the most dense in Europe, and the fourth largest on the continent, carrying about 1.7 million passengers daily on 121 bus lines, 30 tram lines, 3 light metro lines and 20 trolleybus lines. At times, however, it does suffer from severe crowding.
RATB is a reasonably efficient and a very frequently-used way of getting around Bucharest. As with the Metro, the system is going under a period of renewal. Highlights of the renewal include the introduction of a new light metro service, aside from trams, as well as wheelchair-accessible buses and trolleybuses.
[edit] Buses
- See also: List of bus routes in Bucharest
The RATB bus network is the most dense out of all the transport types in Bucharest. In fact, RATB's advertisements state that one can never be more than five minutes walking distance from a bus stop. There are 121 bus lines, most of which operate in the Municipality of Bucharest. However, there are also a few bus lines which provide services to the towns and villages which border Bucharest, in Ilfov county, and whose populations usually commute to Bucharest for work. In mid-2005, the lines that linked the city to the peripheral area were licensed out to independent transportation providers, but in early 2006, they were placed once again under the control of RATB due to a wide range customer complaints about the private operators.
[edit] Fleet
RATB's bus fleet is made up of more than 1200 vehicles, of which around 40% are wheelchair-accessible.[1] The fleet is currently in a process of renewal, with the older Ikarus and DAC buses, built before 1989, being phased out of use. In December 2005, RATB completed a contract for 500 Mercedes Citaro low-floor, wheelchair-accessible buses. The buses were delivered between June 2006 and April 2007. In January 2008, the first of a further series of 500 Citaro wheelchair-accessible buses was put into service. These buses are the first air-conditioned vehicles in RATB's fleet. As of June 2008, wheelchair-accessible vehicles currently run on 37 routes. As of June 2008, the fleet is made up of the following models:
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 Rocar De Simon U412 |
 DAF SB220 |
 Ikarus 260 |
 Rocar DAC 122 UDM |
 Iveco TurboCity-U 480 |
 DAF Berkhof |
 HESS |
 Rocar Autodromo |
Citaro buses are mainly used on central and trunk bus routes, being the main bus type in use in Bucharest. Rocar De Simon U412 and DAF SB220 are being relegated to lower traffic routes, shuttles, suburban routes, or routes perceived by RATB to run through higher risk areas. Ikarus and DAC buses only serve short or shuttle routes, and will be removed from the fleet (and subsequently scrapped) by March 2008.
[edit] Trolleybuses
- See also: List of trolleybus routes in Bucharest
Trolleybuses supplement buses on the RATB network, which operates 19 trolleybus lines, mainly on high-usage routes. During the 1990s, the fleet was updated with modern trolleybuses manufactured by Ikarus, in light blue and yellow livery, which have acoustic station announcements and digital display screens. These trolleybuses now make up the majority of the fleet. In early 2007, wheelchair-accessible Irisbus Citelis trolleybuses were introduced on routes 61, 62, 69, 70, 71, 86, 90, 91 and 92.
[edit] Fleet
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 Ikarus 415T trolleybus on Route 70 (200 vehicles) |
 RocarAutodromo trolleybus on Route 91 (1 vehicle) |
 Rocar trolleybus on Route 90 (12 vehicles) |
 DAC trolleybus on Route 97. Withdrawn model. |
[edit] Trams and light metro
RATB operates a complex system of trams and light metros in the Municipality of Bucharest. Beside tens of tram lines, there are currently three light metro lines (numbered 32, 35 and 41), all of which run in the western part of Bucharest. Light metros use more modern rolling stock than trams and also run on separate designated corridors for faster travel times. The light metro service is expected to be expanded by upgrading existing tram lines to light metro status. The next line to be upgraded is expected to be Line 21.
[edit] Fleet
 V2A tram |
 V2S tram |
 V3A-93M tram |
 V3A-93 tram |
 V3A-H tram |
 Tatra T4 tram |
 Rathberger tram, no longer in use. |
[edit] Minibuses
In Romania, they are called "maxi-taxi", minibuses supplied the need of affordable public transportation at a time when some local administrations dismantled the community-owned systems of buses and or trolley cars. In Bucharest, a few lines went inside the main city in the last years of communism, their line numbers starting with 500, operated by RATB ancestor, ITB. In the 1990's, the lines were ceded to private companies. The boom came in 2003 when the city-owned RATB lost the right to maintain suburban commuter buses which linked main city with the villages around it, and the minibuses replaced the buses on popular suburban lines, such as the ones to Afumaţi or Măgurele.
As of 2006, RATB resumed sub-urban operations maxi-taxi. Furthermore, services are no longer allowed to enter the city center, and, only 11 maxi-taxi lines are allowed to both start and terminate within Bucharest's city limits: [2]:
- 701 (Cora Pantelimon - Autogara Obor)
- 703 (Str. Marin Grigore, Berceni - Str. N.D. Cocea, Ferentari)
- 705 (Str. Pogoanelor, Berceni - Bd. Camil Ressu, Titan)
- 707 (Rostar, Rahova - Str. Piscu Crasani, Militari)
- 708 (Str. Pucheni, Ferentari - Str. Boja, Militari)
- 709 (Str. Luncii, Giuleşti - Cimitirul Ghencea)
- 710 (Prelungirea Ghencea - Crângaşi - Str. Chitila Triaj)
- 714 (XXL Fundeni - Tei - Selgros, Băneasa)
- 715 (Şos. Andronache, Colentina - Titan - Str. Zeţari, Ferentari)
- 716 (Pod Grozăveşti - Piaţa Progresul, Berceni)
- 717 (Str. Niţu Vasile, Berceni - Str. Fizicienilor - Cora Pantelimon)
[edit] CFR Trains
Bucharest is served by a commuter railway network operated by CFR, the Romanian national railways. Although commuter trains no longer serve national routes, commuter train services are not so good. As an alternative, at each city exit there are private bus stations to get travelers to the towns in villages nearby. As a rule, this buses are found at the exit closest to their serviced area. The commuter trains run either from the main station, Gara de Nord or from 6 minor stations (Gara Basarab, Gara Obor, Gara Chitila, Gara Progresu, Gara Titan and Gara Pantelimon). Their main purpose is not regular travelling, instead they were meant to service major factories and industrial platforms with workers, and generally run early in the morning and in the afternoon. Commuter trains currently run to Olteniţa, Giurgiu, Urziceni, Lehliu Gară and Titu. There are also weekend tourist trains from Bucharest to Snagov, starting either at Gara de Nord or Gara Baneasa.
There are no urban trains (similar to RER lines in Paris) in Bucharest, even though a commuter ring railway in currently in construction around Bucharest, to supplement the Bucharest Metro.
See also Căile Ferate Române
[edit] Road network
The city's municipal road network is centred around a series of high-capacity boulevards (6 to 10 lanes), which generally radiate out from the city centre to the outskirts and are arranged in geographical axes (principally north-south, east-west and northwest-southeast). The principal and thus most congested boulevards are Calea Victoriei, Bulevardul Unirii and Mihai Bravu Boulevard, which is the longest in Bucharest and forms a sort of semicircle around the northeastern part of the old district. The city also has two ring roads, one internal (Mihai Bravu is part of it) and one external, which are mainly used for cars that bypass the city as well as trucks, which aren't allowed in the city centre. Aside from the main roads, the city also has a number of secondary roads, which connect the main boulevards. In the historical city centre, particularly the Lipscani area, many streets are cobbled and are classified as pedestrian zones.
The city's roads are usually very crowded during rush hours, due to an increase in car ownership in recent years. Every day, there are more than one million vehicles travelling within the city limits.[3] This has resulted in wearing of the upper layer of tarmac on many of roads in Bucharest, particularly secondary roads which are now used in an equal amount, this being identified as one of Bucharest's main infrastructural problems. The pothole problem is notorious enough to have inspired a song by the band Taxi with a chorus "Cratere ca-n Bucureşti, nici pe luna nu gaseşti!" ("Craters like in Bucharest you won't even find on the moon").[4] However, in recent years, there has been a comprehensive effort on behalf of the City Hall to boost improvement of road infrastructure, mainly by resurfacing and widening roads, and repairing footpaths. According to the City Hall's development plan, nearly 2000 roads are expected to be rehabilited by 2008.[5]
Bucharest is one of the principal junctions of Romania's national road network, which links the city to all of Romania's major cities as well as to neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Romania's two motorways currently in operation, the A1 and the A2 which links the capital with the country's ports and seaside resorts on the Black Sea.
[edit] Airports
Bucharest has two international airports:
- Henri Coandă International Airport, located north of the Bucharest metropolitan area, in the town of Otopeni, Ilfov. Currently the airport has one terminal divided into three inter-connected buildings (International Departures Hall, International Arrivals Hall and the Domestic Flights Hall - at the ground level of the Arrivals Hall - ). The International Departures Hall consists of 36 check-in desks, one finger with 10 gates (5 equipped with jetways), while the Domestic Hall has an extra four gates. Today's International Arrivals Hall is actually the old Otopeni terminal, while the new Departures Hall, including the finger and the airbridges was built and inaugurated in 1997. A second finger with 7 jetways is under construction and a new building terminal on the east side is in project phase. The airport received 3.513.576 passengers in 2006 and the airport is expected to handle 4.5 million passengers in 2007.
- Aurel Vlaicu International Airport is situated only 8 km north of the Bucharest city center and is accessible by RATB buses 131, 335 and Airport Express 783, RATB tramway 5 and taxi. An extension of Line M2 of the Bucharest Metro to Aurel Vlaicu International, which will link it to the Main Train Station and the larger Henri Coandă International Airport, was approved in June 2006 and is currently in its planning stage.
[edit] Sea transport
Although it is situated on the banks of a river, Bucharest has never functioned as a port city, with other Romanian cities such as Constanţa and Brăila acting as the country's main ports. However, the Danube-Bucharest Canal, which is 73 km long, is currently in construction and is around 60% completed. When finished, the canal will link Bucharest to the Danube River and, via the Danube-Black Sea Canal, to the Black Sea. This transport corridor is expected to be a significant component of the city's transport infrastructure and increase sea traffic by a large margin.
[edit] Notes
- ^ (Romanian) Parc autobuze RATB (RATB bus fleet), BucureştiTransport (fan site by Dr2005)
- ^ Comunicat Primar General
- ^ Governing programme of Adriean Videanu, General Mayor of Bucharest
- ^ Simona Tudorache, Taxi a iesit cu Politica in strada, Curierul Naţional, 23 October 2004.
- ^ Rehabilitation of Urban Roads, Phase II, from the site of the General Mayor of Bucharest, Adriean Videanu
[edit] External links
