Prague tunnel bus: delays near Prašný Bridge and Ropid's response

Suburban buses heading from Podbaba to the Dejvická metro station ran up to ten minutes late on Thursday morning shortly before eight o'clock, and earlier in the week the delay reached 18 minutes. Some Praguers blame the new “tunnelbus” line, but Ropid, the organizer of the city's public transport, disagrees.

Ropid spokesman Filip Drapal said the priority measures along the tunnelbus route have no effect on suburban lines, apart from a positive effect around Victory Square. According to him, running buses through the middle of the Kulatak roundabout along the tram tracks and moving the bus lane on Jugoslávských partyzánů Street have only made traffic flow more smoothly.

On average, this saves up to 99 seconds per trip in the morning rush hour and 55 seconds in the evening. Drapal said all the measures were carried out so as not to increase congestion for other road traffic.

Why there are more cars

Drapal calls mistaken the impression, shared on social media, that traffic around Blanka has become heavier because of the new line. It can logically be confused, he explains, with the fact that every year in September and October traffic noticeably picks up compared with the rest of the year. On top of that, the number of cars grows from year to year.

How many people ride and how punctual it is

When the line launched in August, about 1,500 people a day rode the new route in one direction. After two months of operation that number has doubled. The opening of the Kuchinka stop (Kuchinka) near the universities played a noticeable role: in the first weeks it brought an average of a thousand extra passengers on a weekday.

Punctuality depends on the time of day and the direction. Heading toward Dejvická, trips suffer most in the morning rush hour, when the average delay is four minutes. During the day the route is freer, and buses pick up a three-minute delay only at the very end, near Victory Square.

Around Prague guide on the topic: Prague Metro: map and tickets

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz