Last Monday
was just another annual car-free day, when traffic in Warsaw was denser than
usual. The possibility to take the public transport free of charge proved
insufficient to induce inhabitants of Warsaw agglomeration to give up on moving
around by car for that one day. I must plead I also weighed up going by bus to
the underground line, but I woke up to the sight of pouring rain, the prospect
of walking to the bus stop between numerous puddles has effectively put me off
the idea. With some shame I also plead not to regret my decision. The traffic
jam up ul. Puławska was so solid that the journey to Metro Wilanowska would
have taken damn long, while in my depreciating tin I took a detour via
Jeziorki, passing by the most clogged up section between ul. Karczunkowska
and ul. Ludwinowska.
Over the
weekend preceding the car-free day, public transport days were held.
Authorities from Warsaw town hall and local public transport companies have
prepared several attractions to convince some of the car-ridden sods to switch
to public transport. One of such events was the train trip from Warszawa
Zachodnia to Siekierki power and heating plant, through the so-called ‘coal
line’, running from sidings at Okęcie, via Nowa Iwiczna, Piaseczno, Julianów,
Kierszek, Konstancin, up to Siekierki. A noteworthy coverage can be found on
W-wa Jeziorki. Sadly, I ran across the info on planned trips on Sunday morning
when it was too late both to sign up and to reschedule my day order. The only
option I had was to spot the train passing by near my house…
The venue –
level crossing on ul. Mleczarska, marking the border between Piaseczno and
Stara Iwiczna. The place once documented here. After over 5 years little has
changed in the place. Councillors from Piaseczno have been planning to
modernise ul. Mleczarska for years, yet the planning phase has lasted too long
and no visible effects are observable. I heard it on the grapevine the
renovation is to commence in spring next year…
The train
was scheduled to pass Nowa Iwiczna around 2:10 p.m. It turned up with 25-minute
delay. The sight of passenger train occupied only by coal trains is rare enough
to deserve to be captured.
Koleje
Mazowieckie had little choice in terms of what type of vehicle to put up for
the trip, given the coal line is not electrified. This one set of the carriages
is propelled by a diesel engine, hence is less eco than its counterparts
running on electricity…
The train
getting closer. This the first time I try out the camera in the
corpo-smartphone. My private phone is Nokia 3110 Classic I’ve had since early
2008 and as long as it stays reliable, don’t feel like swapping it for a
state-of-the-art phone, but I begin to discover the potential of Szajsung. The
camera is up-to-the-standard, not much worse than in my compact Olympus…
As the
carriages pass by, there is one other anorak (not visible on the photo),
capturing the train with much more professional equipment. He turned up seconds
before train came, quite probably after chasing the train from previous place
of photographing…
The very
idea of a trip was commendable, but putting into operation regular services
running between W-wa Służewiec and Piaseczno / Julianów / Konstancin is a
daydream… (Michael contends it could be a fixed for problems of commuters from those southern suburbs) I do not see it practicable for the following reasons:
1. The coal
line has only one track what means the service would be a shuttle train,
running back and forth between W-wa Służewiec and Konstancin.
2. The line
is not electrified what means rail cars would either had to have diesel engines
or it would take extra CAPEX to put up posts and wires (apart from building
platforms, etc.)
3. The line
was built in 1930s and since then has not undergone a thorough modernisation
what means trains can run no faster than 36 kmph and implying one (or at best
two) train running during rush hours which does not solve the problem of
congested ul. Puławska.
4. The same
line is in the winter heavily used by coal trains which run several times a day
when demand for electricity and heat is the highest. Sharing one track with a
passenger service is hardly imaginable…
But local
election draws near, so any type of bait for voters might come in handy…
What really
has to be pondered upon by folks responsible for public transport is what has
to be done to persuade car-ridden commuters to use public transport. It does
not take simple measures applied so far, i.e. financial incentives and
disincentives. It takes a change in mindsets of the car-ridden to pull them out
of their cars and to do this, someone must understand why they claim they will
not give up on cars. The most often mentioned reasons are:
1. “My own
car is more convenient” – sometimes the argument is hard to disprove since
sometimes people travel tinned like sardines, but in general the standard of
public transport has been significantly raised in the recent years. Compared to
time when I commuted to high school, a huge stride has been made. Travelling by
public vehicles is stress-free which I see as a big advantage. I just hop in
and out, not having to worry about finding a place to park, parking meters,
etc.
2. “Moving
by my own car is much faster” – except for city centre, in Warsaw it is in many
cases true. If I leave the car at P&R Ursynów, it takes me less than an
hour to get to and from work. Late in the evening the time saving is greated
and so is the comfort of not having to wait for a bus to pull out from terminus
is… My journey from home to P&R takes as long as a walk to the bus stop and
waiting for a bus… Not to miss a walk, I stroll between the office and the
underground station which is around one kilometre.
3. “Try
dropping children to school and handling some more stuff by bus” – for people
having children too young to go to school on their own this is an excuse. I
even noticed several people switching to public transport on days when schools
are closed. This can also explain difference in traffic volume between
schooldays and school holidays… How to solve this problem of logistics?
For those
intent to use their cars as a matter of principle, maybe only the hard version
of stick and carrot will work. Privileges for public transport and financial
disincentives for private cars… The issue Warsaw is to tackle to show the
superiority of public transport is to bring down fares for single journey, as
the comparison of cost of moving by car for a person not having a travel-card
is cheaper than buying a public transport ticket. One-per-car transport is
oddly enough in many instances far less expensive. When more passengers travel
in one car the disparity is even more eye-popping…
Looking
ahead – in the pipeline – by the end of the year several infrastructure
developments in the capital are to be completed. The last of them is the
rebuilt P&R Stokłosy car park, opening scheduled on 15 January 2015 but
likely to be brought forward. From my perspective it will shorten the daily
distance covered by car by 3 kilometres. The one to be definitely opened before
local election, due on 16 November 2014 will the central section of the second
underground line, linking W-wa Wileńska Station to Rondo Daszyńskiego. Before
it happens, streets closed for the period of construction are to be reopened;
some wider, some narrower. This is scheduled for next Wednesday. Expect a photo
coverage next weekend.
3 comments:
An excellent post!
Re: Siekierki line - the single line problem is addressed by the proposition of building a passing-loop at Nowa Iwiczna. Diesel railcars compliant with the Euro 7 norm will be used rather than the stinky old thing run last Sunday.
Re: general public transport woes.
I think that extending Zone 1 to outside Warsaw's boundaries would have a huge economic benefit, as would stretching Zone 2 way beyond its current limits - Warka? Why not? Travel-to-work areas expand, people leave cars at home, 'nudge'-theory economics in action!
Hi, do you not think that an extension of the metro to Piaseczno would help relieve Pulawska? How about a park-and-ride, starting at a new metro station outside Piaseczno, with ample, free and secure parking, included in the ticket price. It's not only Piaseczno residents on Pulawska. Many, many cars come into town from the south and I believe that this would help much more than the "coal train"
What do you think?
@Michael
Passing loop would add little flexibility to the timetable I'm afraid.
But extending zones would be of benefit for passengers. Discrepancies in ticket prices can easily tip the scales in favor of private cars, over 500 zlotys paid for a 90-day ticket is the equivalent of 20 kilometres covered by car.
@Chris Oz
Surely it would, I would even love to jump into metro train in Piaseczno instead of driving to Ursynów each working day. But the cost of digging a tunnel beneath Las Kabacki is prohibitive... So we'd rather get real
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