Directions for public transport…

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.