Biskupcova tram stop in Prague 3: platform islands narrowed again

The platforms at the Biskupcova tram stop in Prague 3 are being dug up again: they were widened in 2023, and now, during the line's reconstruction, they are being partly narrowed to free up space for buses. The main reason for the current works is the planned modernisation of the track and the resulting increase in the distance between the rails.

The islands will have to be narrowed so that buses have enough room, which will again reduce the space for pedestrians. Yet widening it was one of the main goals of the rebuild three years ago. Residents are facing not only new construction and traffic restrictions in the same place, but also the fact that the situation is partly returning to the undesirable state from before the 2023 works.

“The narrowing of the waiting area at the stop is only a few centimetres, so it will not noticeably affect the final width of the stops,” the deputy mayor for transport Jaromír Beránek (Pirates) told the outlet.

Why it wasn't calculated right away

Locals ask why the designers could not already in 2023 calculate the width of the roadway and the islands correctly so that buses could pass each other comfortably. Ondřej Rut (Greens), Prague 3's deputy mayor for transport, explained that this was technically impossible because the kerb would have ended up too far from the tracks. “People boarding the tram would have a large gap into which a foot could easily slip, and loading prams would be a problem. Barrier-free access would simply have disappeared,” he said.

The editors also asked the city leadership whether it would have been better to wait and redo the stop now, as part of the overall repair, so as not to spend taxpayers' money twice. However, politicians and city representatives deny any waste and defend the repeated works by saying it was a planned temporary solution.

As early as 4 December 2023, the then Prague deputy mayor for transport Zdeněk Hřib said on social media that the Biskupcova stop platforms had been widened in both directions: “Pedestrian traffic is traffic too, and pedestrians deserve a safe space.”

A “Lego” stop

“The Prague Public Transit Company's 2023 investment paid off anyway: passenger comfort and how dangerous it used to be there justify the cost, which ranged from hundreds of thousands to several million crowns,” said Ondřej Rut, stressing that it was an experiment. In addition, they took advantage of the fact that the water main was being repaired at the time, so traffic did not have to be closed just for the stop.

The Prague 3 administration insists that the main goal was to prevent dangerous situations as quickly as possible. “There were many accidents. Sometimes, while someone was crossing, one car in one lane would let the pedestrian through, and the next one in the adjacent lane often would not. We had approached the city hall even earlier to have the islands widened. The then deputy mayor for transport, Zdeněk Hřib, as they say, had the courage to agree to it,” Rut added.

Back to work after three years

According to the city leadership, the 2023 solution was conceived as temporary from the start. “Of course, we knew that a comprehensive reconstruction of the tram line would happen within a few years,” Beránek said. As part of it, the island will be given its final, permanent widening with proper kerbs and appropriate surfacing.

“The transport company built the widening as a temporary structure from demountable and reusable elements known as Lego: a barrier and mosaic paving were added to the original platforms, and the roadway was separated by a plastic kerb. And since the measure has proved its worth, we are turning it into a permanent structure while optimising bus passage,” confirmed the company's communications manager Daniel Šabík.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz