A tram to Wilanów

I took a photo coverage of tramway to Miasteczko Wilanów under construction once, in September 2023. The urban rail link to a housing estate built from scratch in the twenty-first century, being a symbol of new-rich self-styled elite and the biggest cluster of anti-PiS voters in Poland, has been one of the flagship investments in transport infrastructure in the capital of Poland.

The two years when it was under construction were a major ordeal for everyone living along it. It had been scheduled to be opened at the beginning of September 2024, yet after a customary delay, tram services were launched without ribbon-cutting on 29 October 2024.

Given the workload, the necessity to spend times of exercising to recover, the short day and other excuses, I had no opportunity to spot the tram in Wilanów, hence no snaps with time.

Wilanów is now connected to central Warsaw with two tram lines, numbered 14 an 16. The latter connects the district with Metro Świętokrzyska, one underground station away from where my office is located. To reach the office at 8:30 a.m., I need to leave home at 7:47 a.m. If I lived in a distance of a five-minute walk to a middle stop in Wilanów, i.e. Świątynia Opatrzności Bożej and if I gave myself a two-minute headroom for reaching the tram stop, I would need to leave home approximately at 7:40 a.m. This means the commute is just less horrible than it used to be.

Lack of decent transport links is one of many reasons I have never been fond of Wilanów and haver never considered taking up residency there. Back in 2012 one could easily buy a brand-new unfinished flat from a property developer for below PLN 7,000 per sqm, while Ursynów was 10% more expensive. Today Ursynów is some 10% cheaper than the neighbouring district.

While a tram remains superior to a bus, given the current infrastructure, it is by no means a truly fast alternative, unless there is no bus lane. Its movement is hampered by numerous traffic lights, albeit it should be given priority over passenger cars. Besides, stops are scattered quite densely (which is not a drawback in general terms); consequently speed of a tram journey drops well below 20 kmph.

Despite some complaints above, I appreciate the new tram route and hope it cuts down on the traffic congestion and air pollution in the capital.

Off for some belated holidays in the Polish mountains over the next two weekends, hence the next post due on 24 November. Will I kick off writing a regular winter timeline by then?

Urban cycling

I have been an active bicycle user for several years - I have used it for leisure, doing sports, socialising (trips of 20 - 80 kilometres with fellow lads and girlfriends), tourism, for moving around Ursynów (or Wisła) or dropping visits to my parents or friends, but never, ever for commuting.

In late May I resolved to try using a bicycle for work-related moving around. First ride - to a client whose office is at the far end of ul. Poleczki, some 5.2 kilometres from home. Too short distance to go by car, too long to take 504 bus and then change it to 148 service, on top due to harsh cost savings, I am not allowed to claim a taxi bill reimbursed. Outcome - I put on a suit and cycle there on my mountain bike. The travel duration was fine - 20 minutes, but in a suit I did not feel comfortable. The temperature then was not particularly high (close to +20C), but the air was humid and on my way home I slightly broke sweat.

Two days later, I took a trip to the office (14 kilometres), that time in casual clothes. I usually have to take a notebook (unless it stays in the office for a few days in a row), packed lunches and some personal stuff. I had to pack it all into a rucksack, which was a bit of heavy and contributed to a stain of sweat on my back (bike bags or a solid handlebar basket could have been a fix for it). Since there is no cycling path along al. Niepodległości, I comfortably cycled along ul. Pileckiego and then ul. Puławska up to the intersection with ul. Dolna where the cycling path ends. The route from there towards Rondo ONZ is a bit of a nuisance, there are few sections of cycling path, while meandering past narrow streets of Mokotów with dense traffic is not a pleasure. Door-to-door ride duration: 1 hour and 5 minutes, some 20 - 25 minutes longer than by public transport, which gives additional 45 minutes per day spent on commuting, but also on physical exercise.

Cycling to work has some limitations, especially pertaining to weather and outfit (casual clothes are much more suitable). Not breaking sweat is possible, yet at the expense of slow pace.

I could definitely consider cycling as attractive commuting option on distances below 5 miles / 8 kilometres and with proper infrastructure (inadequate network of cycling paths in northern Mokotów / southern Śródmieście is a shame). 

For a while bycicle sticks to its previous role, since in mid-June I purchased a 3-month travelcard whose price has not gone up simce 10 years (PLN 250 for 90 days of unlimited riding in Warsaw and around is dirt cheap). I have learnt being a passenger allows me to focus on some down-to-earth stuff via smartphone when moving. Having said that I confess this is the first post I have written using the phone only, during two underground journeys! A shame time has become such a scarce commodity.

By car? Why?

When choosing a property to buy (I consider a purchase to meet one’s own housing needs) one of primary factors taken into consideration is a location. A prime place to reside in, apart from unmeasurable factors which boil down a spirit of the place and features of a specific dwelling, such as layout, storey, amenities, must be well-located.

Why have I chosen to live a particular part of Ursynów? Not just my fondness of the district and its distinguishing climate, but practical reasons. Needless to say I spend just a fraction of non-sleep time at home, but I get about regularly to specific places.

To work – regular route covered back and forth usually five times a week. My dwelling is just less than a kilometre from the entrance to an underground station, which gives an opportunity to have two short walks, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The door-to-door journey takes me on average 45 minutes, assuming I march to or from the underground station. If I am in a hurry or carry a laptop and a bag with packed lunches for two consecutive days, two bus lines: 179 and 192 can take me the underground and save my time. The underground trains, unless somebody attempts to commit suicide or leaves unattended luggage, are the most reliable and quick form of public transport in Warsaw. My goal of not being car-dependent in terms of commuting to work has been attained. Since moving in, I drove to work once, to bring a table delivered by a courier to my office. The door-to-door journey in each direction lasted 50 minutes…

To do the grocery shopping – three or four times a week. Lidl, being my primary discount shop where I stock up in basis stuff is less than 100 metres from my door; for no apparent reason some of my neighbours drive there to do the shopping… Biedronka where I reluctantly venture to hunt “second item cheaper” bargains is next to Metro Stokłosy, so I can pop by there on my way from work. Auchan where I shop around once a week is nearly 3 kilometres away and sadly there is no direct bus connection there. I can walk to the shop, but lugging a heavy bag with my spine is a no good idea… I take then 179 bus and change it for 504 near Multikino. Tesco Kabaty is available by 179 bus, yet I dislike the hypermarket, its layout, plus its pricing policy is inferior to Auchan, Lidl and Biedronka...

To visit my parents – once or twice a week, 9 kilometres by car (which is the shortest distance I happen to drive if I sit behind the wheel) or 7 kilometres by bike, weather and circumstances permitting. Close enough to pay them a late afternoon visit, if I don’t feel like putting in calling on them into my weekend agenda and sufficiently close if at emergency (they are getting older so such factors needs to be taken into account). But going to Nowa Iwiczna by public transport means a door-to-door journey no shorter than fifty minutes (compare it to 20 minutes by car in non-peak hours or 25 minutes by bike) and this shortest journey involves a three-kilometre walk through Las Kabacki… I have never tried it and do not intend to try.

To the swimming pool – located roughly a mile from my house, I get there by 504 bus. I laugh at people who drive 2 kilometres to a gym to have some exercise…

I generally do not understand why so many locals drive around Ursynów, especially since the district is nearly constantly jammed because of the ongoing construction of Warsaw’s Southern Bypass. Since moving in I have used the car for mid- and long-distance journeys. The car sits idle on average on 3 out of 4 days (nearly 3,000 kilometres covered over 3 months) and used only when it is far more convenient way of moving around than public transport or a bike.

Would I consider selling the car and switching to car sharing or car rental then? In a week I will present to you a number-backed analysis with detailed assumption which would answer the question whether with my car usage patterns it makes economic sense to own the car. I will compare the total cost of ownership to costs of hiring a car for long-distance journeys a few times a year and switching to car-sharing for mid-distance trips around Warsaw and its suburbs.

Łódź, EC1

Drove to Łódź last Sunday… We felt like going to a planetarium, but the nearby one in Centrum Nauki offered no breath-taking show, hence we had decided to check out the state-of-the-art one opened last year in revitalised building of heat and power plant (hence EC1 name) in central Łódź.

We could have taken the train directly to Łódź Fabryczna station, but given lower cost and faster journey time, the car again had the edge. For no apparent reason, I thought the train covers the distance between Warszawa Centralna and Łódź Fabryczna in one hour and five minutes, but PKP Intercity webpage told me it takes 20 minutes longer, in total as much as door-to-door journey by car, so time which could have been spent getting to the station (in advance) and waiting on the platform was spared. Besides, the price of two return adult tickets was PLN 112, compared to less than PLN 100 spent on petrol (I’ve gotten on drive within speed limits, as playing about with accelerator pedal not only means playing with safety but also increases fuel consumption which hits the wallet painfully).

The A2 motorway between Łódź and Warsaw is more and more congested. Traffic density predicted for 2030 was reached in 2015 and though I have never experience a traffic jam out there (though driving out of Warsaw in the morning I could see snarled-up traffic on Warsaw-bound lanes between Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Konotopa), I am of the opinion three lanes in each direction are a must on this section, just as one more lane in each direction ought to be built on the A2 bypass of Poznań. Some time ago the ministry of infrastructure was considering widening the road, yet I believe this task should be given lower priority than upgrading dangerous national roads to the status of expressway (DK7 from Gdańsk to Kraków being the most glaring example of such trail).

Following the guidelines on EC1’s website, we left the car on Łódź Fabryczna’s giant (nearly 1,000 lots) P&R car park. We could have left it directly in front of the planetarium, since many parking space were free on Sunday.

Now a word on Łódź Fabryczna station, opened in December 2016 along with huge transport hub (changing between trains, tram, city and long-distance buses and car park is possible there). I could not resist the temptation to sightsee the object which had set the taxpayers back 2 billion zlotys and on Sunday seemed well ahead of its times. The station is huge, large spaces are empty, there is no place to eat a lunch (a passenger must make do with a sandwich, cake and coffee, don’t hope to buy a schabowy out there), trade units remain unlet. The impression the station made on me on Sunday could have been misleading, as the place surely does not look that desolated on weekday early morning, when hundreds of Łódź residents (including two of my workmates) set off in their journey to Warsaw to work.

We strolled around the city and the part between Łódź Fabryczna and ul. Piotrkowska has not changed much since my last visit there in 2012. Few new buildings have been put up, the reek of urine and alcohol still lingers. I wonder how many workplaces have been created over that time in Łódź. If Łódź itself does not draw in investors, I doubt its proximity to Warsaw makes the city attractive as a dormitory city of Warsaw. Everyday commuting by car is impracticable due to cost and time wasted in traffic jams. The monthly train ticket costs PLN 400 (which as my workmate says is tax-deductible) which eats up some of your savings made on lower cost of housing and services if you reside in Łódź. Besides, even on the assumption that train ride duration shortens to 65 minutes, you need to add up the time necessary to get to the station (a few minutes before the train departs) and from the station to office or home (my office is under fifteen-minute walk from Warszawa Centralna, luckily). This means your daily commute takes between three and four hours, around two hours a day (ten hours a week, over forty hours a month) more compared to average door-to-door journey time of one and half hour (in both directions) if you live within the boundaries of Warsaw. For me, not an argument to save around PLN 3,000 per square meter of a property if you still plan to work in Warsaw.

Moved the clocks backward last night. I sincere hope this is the last time and in a year Poland stays in daylight saving time for the entire winter. Will not miss the later sunrise, but I am longing for one more hour of sunlight in the afternoon.

Winter wonderland

At long-last, the veritable winter has turned up. First days of January brought harsh frosts (day-time highs below –10C), yet the first winter episode was snow-free. The first proper snowfall was witnessed on Friday, 15 January; lasted since early afternoon until late evening and covered the ground with eleven centimetres of brand-new white powder. For comparison, maximum snow cover during the previous winter (on 9 February 2015) reached 4 centimetres (and melted right away).

The sight I woke up to behold on Saturday a week ago. While it had snowed temperature had been barely below zero, hence the snow was wet and thick. No wonder trees were bending under its weight. Temperature overnight had fallen to some –6C, hence shyly shining sun did not cause snow caps to drop.

Afternoon. After a bright morning sun has been occluded by clouds. I stroll around to gloat over the magnificence of winter. The sight caught from ul. Zimowa in NI brings to mind “White as snow” by U2. A pity we had not enjoyed such weather during Christmas. Peaceful, slightly dark, silent place. May the moment last!

Further up to Mysiadło, where side streets have not been cleared of all snow, rather it has been beaten and its compact layer is vehicle- and pedestrian-friendly. For inhabitants of terraced houses any bigger snow precipitation is a challenge, since front-yards and drives are too tiny to heap up masses of fallen snow.

Walking east, I get to premises of bygone PGR Mysiadło. Swathes of land covered with snow and a row of trees marking a boundary of the capital bring to mind… labour camps in Siberia. The association does not seem legitimate, since the only common element is a relatively large piece of flat land under the snow…

As I strut about towards ul. Puławska I notice heavy snow has not deterred motorists from moving about (I drove nearly 40 kilometres on that day, so why do I grumble?). Yet traffic jams congest side roads in Piaseczno. Here, clogged up ul. Wiśniowa, towards ul. Łabędzia, where a queue of cars before intersection with ul. Puławska is half a kilometre long. Situation is worsened by the fact some drivers use summer tyres useless in such conditions – setting a car in motion on ice is nearly impossible.

Here comes our saviour. Ul. Raszyńska in Piaseczno, tractor with a plough removes some of the snow from the street and puts down sand on it. Road clearance on roads governed by Piaseczno is a crying shame. Back yesterday, a week after the snowfall many roads were still covered with frozen slush…

And the outcome of the plough’s work. Worse than the day before. This is a regular ice, fortunately clearly visible, so less treacherous. Drive slowly, operate all pedals gently and use engine braking in advance to slow the car and provided no object cuts in on you unexpectedly, you should avoid going into a skid.

Here, an example of a frequent unsocial behaviour. The egg trader (or someone hired by him) has got rid of snow from their drive by shoving into onto the public street. The “move it away from myself (into no-one’s territory)” way of thinking is not what I put up with…

Last Sunday, level crossing in NI. Construction crews carry on working despite unfavourable weather. A weeks ago western track was ripped off nearly by the station in Nowa Iwiczna. Good to see works move on despite the winter.

And another snap of rail tracks, this time from ul. Mleczarska, the coal line. The Sunday was a gloomy day, yet the snow-covered earth brightened it up. Much healthier for one’s mood than a grey day with drizzle.

One more picture of snow-covered fields. Further from Warsaw in Mazowsze such landscapes splay out into the horizon. Here in the distance we see development in Stara Iwiczna and not very old housing estates in Piaseczno (where flat supply overhang is record-high, yet prices are not much lower than in some outer districts of Warsaw which enjoy better transport links with the city centre).

Monday, foggy morning seen from ul. Sarabandy. My journey to work lasted on that day nearly two hours (left home at 7:05, reached the office at 8:55), I guess longer than ever. Ul. Puławska was unusually congested; besides, waterworks crew dug up ul. Sarabandy at its northern end. I ended up driving there and back slowly and then, to avoid dense traffic on ul. Puławska, I turned right into ul. Karczunkowska and took a detour via Dawidy Bankowe (ul. Starzyńskiego was one huge ice rink).

Yesterday. Temperature overnight fell to –13C, morning greeted with clear blue skies and hard rime, setting on trees. Picturesque sights to lap up before they disappear for a while. Forecasters predict thaw is due tomorrow and within a fortnight winter is unlikely to return.

In the afternoon I took a bus to Pyry and marched into the forest. To my surprise, Las Kabacki was not chock full of ski-runners and walkers. Quite disappointing given the weather was conducive to enjoying gorgeousness of the winter which will soon be gone.

Heading towards the bus stop, I take a shot of ul. Puławska from the footbridge over the artery. Note the white shade of asphalt. Road clearance in Warsaw, compared to Piaseczno where the town’s services have buggered it up all along, seems beyond reproach, yet massive amount of salt on the streets are the price to pay. The footwear deserves watering when I get to the office and then at home, not to let salt mix up with the leather. The car looks horribly (in some spots the bodywork is virtually white) and is due for a decent wash-up as soon as thaw arrives. Roll on spring!

Headway in local infrastructure

1. Park and Ride Metro Stokłosy

When the ground-level, open-air car park for commuters near Metro Stokłosy was closed in October 2013, the revamped parking facility was scheduled to be opened on 15 Janaury 2015. The completion deadline has been met, since by all accounts the car park was finished before the end of 2014, yet it took one quarter more for the general contractor to fix all glitches, put finishing touches and for town hall clerks to issue the occupancy permit for the car park.

At long last, P+R Stokłosy was opened on 1 April 2015. It was supposed to be opened at 4:30 a.m., but when I pulled up there around 7:00 a.m., a chap from technical crew told me the facility was not yet opened. Turned away, I had to drive, for the last time so far, to P+R Ursynów. Quite probably, the car park staff were under-informed, or played an April Fool’s Day’s joke on me. During the press conference staged on the same day by the Public Transport Authority and some officials from the town hall, including deputy mayor, parked cars could be seen in the background.

The car park has the parking charge collection system identical to the one at P+R Ursynów. Once you drive in, you need to collect a parking ticket from the machine. A regular charge for parking is 100 PLN, however it can be cancelled if before leaving the facility a driver authenticates they are in a possession of at least daily public transport ticket. For the time being the system is defunct and gates are opened all the time. Beware though and do not try to use P+R Stokłosy as an overnight garage for you vehicle. On 2 April I witnessed some dim-witted chaps who left their rickety lorry there for the night-time maintenance break and found a billing note beneath wipers. A board with the list of rules and regulations is in front of the entrance, so ignorance of law is not an excuse.

It has been a subject of a heated debate among inhabitants of Ursynów, whether this huge box of painted concrete (the facility will serve also as bus terminus) is a blot on the landscape of Al. KEN, the thoroughfare of Ursynów. Developments on both sides of Al. KEN have been put up in 1990s or later, upon completion of underground line and are quite uniform. P+R Stokłosy’s structure is a misfit. Park and Ride facility at Okęcie tram and bus terminus, of similar architectural style, fits much better the surrounding area.

The car park offers space for almost 400 cars and only 20 bicycles. As for the latter, the number of spots for bike users is horrifically low, while the car parking capacity in the first weeks of usage is utilized in less than 20%, although users of alternative P+Rs have been duly notified P+R Stokłosy had been opened. The new car park has four levels, but from my observations in afternoon (around 5 p.m.) the ground level is not filled up, let alone the empty spaces above it.

Despite some grumbling, I generally appreciate the new car park. It shortens the distance covered by car each day and lengthens the distance covered underground (I sometimes feel like a mole, spending over 20 minutes in the morning and in the afternoon below ground), moreover it helps avoid the most congested in afternoon section of ul. Puławska between ul. Poleczki and ul. Płaskowickiej (hint: ul. Taneczna, Krasnowolska, Poloneza and Ludwinowska come up as excellent detour). All in all, it brings some time and money savings, yet you have to use your brains to work out swinging east to leave a car there is superior to taking a straight-forward route to P+R Wilanowska for instance.

2. Ul. Mleczarska – progress report.

Traditionally, we start from the south, although when yesterday I strolled there to inspect how works moved on, I walked southwards (snaps by Szajsung).

The section from ul. Syrenki almost up to the railway crossing is nearly finished. The pavement on the east side is ready, as the cycling past on western side of the street is. The very road still lacks the top-most abrasive layer of tarmac and most probably it will not be laid until the very last days of construction (heavy vehicles use this road to reach construction site, to the decision to leave this section a little unfinished is reasonable).

I wonder whether all arrangements between the investor and owner (PGNiG Termika) or administrator (DB Rail Schenker) of the rail track running to Siekierki plant have been finalised. Not a single step has been taken to initiate modernisation of the railway crossing, while on both sides of the tracks construction of the road is more or less advanced…

The section between the tracks and ul. Energetyczna has taken shape since the beginning of March. Pavement and cycling path have been marked out. Laid curbs indicate the road will be slightly winding. One can also see an intersection with a road running into plot of former bus and trolleybus depot (torn down a few years ago). Cart well before horse. Modern lamps post have been put up yet the old ones, carrying overhead electricity wires, remain. The development could do with a more comprehensive approach.

Looking at four-lane ul. Energetyczna towards ul. Puławska. One can discern where two roads will run, yet without peeking at plans beforehand, one will not make out where a huge roundabout, replacing traditional intersection of ul. Mleczarska and ul. Energetyczna will be built.

The section between ul. Energetyczna and ul. Mleczarska is least advanced. The new road will be shifted west in relation to its previous trail. The nut tree first from the left will have to chopped down to give way to the cycling path.

And the last photo (finer playing part of an intruder), taken from the corner of ul. Krasickiego in NI and ul. Mleczarska. The fence of the property at the south-west corner of the intersection was pulled down and new, makeshift one, put up. Some pipes have also been laid underground, below the dug up parcel of land parallel to the road. According to my neighbour (allegedly having it on good authority), works will kick off here for good in May and completion deadline of 30 June 2015 is not in question. We shall see :)

M2

Just for the record – quite possibly today morning we witnessed the last gasp of winter in Warsaw. After several days of spring-like weather, last night brought frost and light dusting of snow. Skies cleared up around 8 a.m. and all the snow disappeared by midday. Next week temperature is foreseen to shoot up to nearly +20C. Roll on spring!

Again, a belated post, partly compiled almost two weeks ago, shortly after the opening of the second underground line, slightly updated and extended today.

Making it ot the anything but grand opening of the second underground line two weeks ago was out of question, so I tried it out the next day, on Monday morning. I was not the only one to document (photos by Szajsung) the first ride – see a much broader coverage by Michael (the fellow blogger visited all stations east of Świętokrzyska).

To the right – one of passages between the first and the second line on Świętokrzyska station. When first using this link, I was unaware of the existence of another far more convenient passage between the lines, which is faster, does not require passengers to go through ticket gates and on top is well-hidden. Despite this one flaw, I have to admit generally the signage is up to the mark in the stations of second underground line.

I took a train to the western end of the line, to Rondo Daszyńskiego station. This formerly industrial part of Warsaw is rapidly turning into a business district with hundreds thousands square metres of office space in use and under construction. The underground trains will definitely facilitate transport for thousand of corpo-workers having to get here and from here, making it much friendlier location to work than ghastly Służewiec Przemysłowy. I took the snap just from the entrance to the station, however to properly depict the modern office-districts landscape, I should have taken the photo from the south-eastern corner of Rondo Daszyńskiego.

The east-bound carriages running in the morning from Rondo Daszyńskiego were nearly empty. It does not imply that second underground line runs idle. According to recently published statistics its trains carry on average 106,701 passengers per day (vs. roughly half a million taking the first, much longer line). Besides, it takes time before passengers change their habits and get convinced to the fastest possible way of moving around town.

As pointed up by many, on the first working day most escalators on newly opened Rondo ONZ station were broken down. True, this was a nuisance, however technical crews swiftly mended the machinery and during the subsequent two weeks I did not notice a single technical defect. When it comes to technicalities, I also noticed many passengers encountered problems handling new glass-made ticket gates (seemingly so simple to use). Fortunately, the transport authority envisaged such situations and sent several assistants to help passengers find their way in newly opened facilities. I only wonder how long before the more complicated gates begin to pack up since their technical complexity and thus potential for defects is much higher than in old gates on first line stations.

To the right – view towards the station entrance to the station, photo taken in the vicinity of Rondo ONZ. For many corpo-workers keeping late hours in Rondo 1 and other nearby office buildings the underground trains should mean commuting improvement. From my perspective, the time saved thanks to it is less than five minutes. Compared to the previous route, i.e. taking a tram between Metro Pole Mokotowskie and Rondo ONZ (six stops), riding the underground does not requite waiting on the traffic light to cross two streets on Rondo ONZ, moreover the underground is not halted by traffic lights on intersections along the way. Having to swing east and change trains, rather than moving slower, but straight ahead, takes the gloss of smoother rides by underground. I will defnitely appreciate the underground during inclement or extreme weather. Taking a shelter will be preferable to being exposed to over +25C heat, less than -10C chill, downpours or heavy snow.

Now looking forward to opening the rebuilt park and ride facility near Metro Stokłosy. The huge car park for almost 400 cars, 100 bikes and bus terminus have been finished a few weeks ago and since then have been waiting for better days, fenced off from hundreds of potential users. In early February I ventured there to see the development had been completed and asked a security guard whether he knew the opening date. He only shrugged his shoulders and shared my discontent with the fact no one can use the new car park. From what I heard on the radio last week, the general contractor is to put all finishing touches and fix minor glitches by the end of March and then technical inspections are to set about. Feasible opening date – second week of April (the one after Easter.)

The rear view mirror

Some nasty men claim women use it to tweak with their make-up and apart from this the mirror attached to the windscreen is of no use for them. In fact drivers who do not use all three mirrors to control situation on the road almost constantly are more likely to cause an accident than those who use it as prescribed. Apart from keeping track of traffic when the car is in motion, it is worthwhile to look in the mirror inside the vehicle to look at other car users while, for example, waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Until some time ago, I could enjoy typical sights – women enhancing their make-up, men shaving their facial hair, humans of both sexes talking on their mobile phones, smoking or having their fingers exploring the contents of their noses. The times of ordinary views in the mirror are gone. It’s getting worse…

I can distinguish two types of drivers: most travel on their own, minority take passengers. The former appear either impatient or jaded. Those for who every second is precious would be the happiest if they could push other vehicles away, faces of the more bored drivers show less and less interest in what is going on around – they drive because they have to, it can be judged by their faces they do a routine activity. I usually commute on my own and usually lean towards the “jaded” type… Aggression behind the wheel is not a good advisor…

More interesting are interactions between people travelling in the same vehicle, and here my observations are more disturbing. The first instance is no communication at all – a car is moving behind me for a longer period of time and its passengers show no sign of conversation. I assume they are not strangers for each other / one another, so I suppose it would be natural to talk. It does not happen. I also quite often notice whole families (parents and children) occupying one car and each member of family is doing something else – a driver focuses on traffic, one of the passengers looks outside a window, another reads a book or fiddles with a mobile phone. In times when people spend most of the time outside home, commuting together seems a good opportunity to talk, but for many silence seems to be a preferable option. Or am I the only one to find this strange?

The second instance are arguing people – more and more often I can see in my rear view mirror couples falling out – yelling, waving their hands, their faces getting red. The same applies to parents driving their children to school. For smaller children the case is usually that the unruly offspring wind up their parents. Teenagers in turn behave seemingly properly but fall out over more serious issues. Shouts and gesticulation also in abundance.

Even leaving out the fact quarrelling distracts drivers and may contribute to dangerous situations on the road, my conclusions are unsettling – a malaise overwhelms the society…

I used to commute by public transport only, I still cover more kilometres in public service vehicles than by car each working day and I find populations of car commuters and public transport users entirely different. Generally speaking, those who get around by car are wealthier than those using the public transport. It does not apply to people who live in areas with excellent transport links into centre of Warsaw who use underground as a faster and more convenient for getting into town, but the regularity remains. Judging by what faces of people sitting in other cars and faces of fellow bus / tram / underground passengers express, I infer those who take the public transport are happier than car users.

Some explanations could be found right away – if you travel in a public space with your family, you are generally less eager to wash your dirty linen than in the private space of your depreciating tin. Going further, money does not have to bring happiness; in many cases wealth, if not accompanied by what really matters in life (bonds with family and friends, self-fulfilment, etc.) can bring discontent. The more you have, the more you want to have and the less you are satisfied with what you have achieved, the less you appreciate what you possess, while you should.

For an upbeat ending – I do not consider what I spot among fellow road users significantly upsetting. The sample I observe is not representative for the whole Polish society, although indeed people’s moods have seen better days. It seems the second wave of financial distress (debt crisis in the euro zone) will hit Poland more severely than the aftermaths of banking crisis in 2008. Poland’s GDP is not going to shrink, again, unemployment is unlikely to soar, but is poised to go up, but consumer confidence that kept the Polish economy afloat in early 2009 gives signs of dwindling. More people are afraid of losing their jobs, households are less eager to finance their consumption with debts, purchasing power is on decline due to cost-push inflation (higher prices of food, utilities and fuel, partly owing to excessive volume of speculation on commodity markets and “thanks” to weak PLN, which now, when corporate sector is not throttled by over-hedging, boosts our competitiveness), as growth of salaries has ceased to catch up with the pace in which prices of basic goods mount. Insecurity can be felt in the air (brutal lay-offs are under way in my company), so gloom is likely to prevail and because in economics agents’ actions bring forth a mechanism of self-fulfilling prophecy, I expect harder times than in 2008-2009, not in figures issued by the Stats office, but among ordinary people.

Next week – a short guide to being fired in a corporation – onlooker’s impressions.

In two weeks – road construction programme review at the onset of football championship – will Warsaw be linked to European network of motorways by then?

A foray to a forest

Early March, sun is shining high and the worst of the winter’s gone (expect another winter timeline next week). When this kind of weather comes in, the nature beckons and first intimations of winter bring on getting out and breathing in the pre-spring air.

Last Saturday (8 days ago), I had luck to find two spare hours (free time is and will be scarce commodity for me) to pop over to the fringes of the nearest reserve of intact wildlife.

I set off from home at half past two p.m., marched one kilometre to catch a 709 bus, rode three stops and got off at the corner of ul. Puławska and ul. Jagielska. The very wait for the bus stop dragged on for over a quarter – public transport in the suburbs is often unreliable, but after all I didn’t feel like going there by a fume-emitting vehicle and it was still too cold to have a bike shake-down day. Having alighted the bus, I headed east, passed by a prestigious Laguna estate and having walked some 500 metres, I had the forest to my left.

I sauntered on, with a view to find a monument commemo- rating fatalities of terrible plane crash which happened here in May 1987. Having forgotten to take a map, I didn’t find it, but located the property from which the news of the crashed airplane came to the fire brigade. It’s Jagielska 2, in 1987 there was a rural dwelling here, in 2012 you can find here an international private school. A fine location, I must say. I wonder how children can get here, if none of their parents, nor any other childminder can give them a lift…

I strolled some 200 metres further east, to spot the official entrance to the forest. As I later learnt at home, I could turn there left, walk less than half a kilometre north and spot the monument I was searching for. Tough luck, I’ll be there before and after the 25th anniversary of the disaster anyway to commemorate the victims of the most tragic (in terms of death toll) Polish plane accident after World War II.

I was curious to see what kind of development can be found near the south-western peripheries of Las Kabacki. One can spot there well-looking detached house built over the last twenty years, with well-groomed gardens. A blot on the landscape are old, often derelict, dilapidated houses, some looking like summerhouses.

Many on big plots of land occupied by wrecked or almost falling-apart greenhouses. One day these areas will be rearranged; at the present there is nothing but a disorder here.

Between ul. Jagielska and the forest lie empty plots of land, waiting for a wealthy buyer, eager to purchase land for their own residence or to built a row of terraced houses for sale. The upsides of the location are vicinity of the forest, clean air and silence. It gets worse when it comes to commuting. A bus stop is two kilometres away, road is full of potholes, in the winter it has a low priority in snow-clearing. Unless the weather is good, you have no choice, but to use a car and spend money on petrol… Prices of properties in the suburbs must reflect time and money wasted on long commuting…

And the last element of the suburban landscape are spacious, detached, or semi-detached mansions, usually built in clusters. Most of those I noticed were uninhabited, many unfinished inside, and put up for sale. Until last Saturday I hadn’t seen a single sign of crisis on the Polish property market similar to those in countries affected by property market bubbles and here strikes a surprise. Enormous, yet spirit-lacking and anything, but cosy, houses no one wants to buy. It’s all a matter of price. These days in Poland supply and demand hardly ever meet.

As I was approaching ul. Puławska on my way to the bus stop, I spotted a plane. Blinded by the sun, I couldn’t discern what airline it was run by. And now a question to you – an Ukrainian as colours suggest? I’ve never heard of Aerosvit…

The bus stops near ul Jagielska have been temporarily (temporary solutions last long) moved in the summer of 2010 for the period when a footbridge over ul. Puławska is rebuilt. The old footbridge, eaten up by rust was torn down in mid-2010, almost two years have gone by and construction of the new one is not yet completed. I noticed stairs are not ready – they don’t reach the ground, lifts are still not fit to run and no one bothers to finish this hapless venture off.

A big board next to the footbridge informs me the modernisation of this and many other footpaths in Warsaw was co-financed by the EU… And what’s the benefit. Completed footbridges are closed off for months as urzędasy in the town hall are hanging back on issuing a use permit and soon after the facilities are opened some buttheads vandalise it. For a while local residents won’t be able to use the footbridge and drivers’ life will be made harder by one more set of traffic lights. Oddly enough, the light for cars turns red not only when someone presses a button and wants to cross the road, but light alternate in regular intervals – another absurdity…

Not a good July for holidaymakers...

At least for those who decided to spend it in Poland. July 2011 has been one of the wettest Julies in my lifetime, so those who ventured to Mazury or to the seaside did not get a chance to enjoy much sunshine and warmth. If my memory serves me right, there were very few sunny days over the passing month. And a good indicator for my memory is a frequency of watering plants in the garden. I haven’t done it for weeks and this means last weeks must have been extraordinarily wet, as the soil in my garden is rather sandy and it dries up after rainfalls immediately. At least it used to, as for some five weeks it hasn’t had any chance to return to its typical dryness again.

Excellent weather reporting site, run by a Spanish organisation Ogimet, proves my memory does serve me right. Statistics for Warsaw that exclude the last day of July give clear evidence: the minimum temperature of +8.8C was recorded on 24 July, the highest of +28.1C on 14 July, average temperature reached +18.1C, so almost one degree fewer than long-term average, but this year’s July was in turn much colder than those from last years. Last time it was similarly cold in July 2004, when temperature averaged out +17.9C. In 2007 July also wasn’t particularly hot with average temperature of +18.8C, but then we had a hot spell with temperatures hitting +35C interspersed throughout cold (as for July) snaps. This year weather hasn’t been actually changeable. Daily temperature amplitudes have stayed low, weather for most of the month has been the same, even rainfalls have been distributed evenly, and despite high precipitation there has been no big flood, but many minor inundations…

Warsaw saw two days when weather gave its inhabitants particularly rough rides. On Wednesday, 20 July, in the afternoon, a huge downpour paralysed the whole city, but those were the southern districts that got the biggest drenching. I left the office at 17:30, accompanied by two colleagues. One of them looked at the sky, seized up the clouds are predicted some little rain would set in. When I left the tram in the centre I turned back to see the colour of the sky over Mokotów and slightly aghast made my way to the underground. I had had a similar situation on 3 August 2010 and had a precise inkling of an impending downpour. I was right, the rain was so heavy that it was impossible to get out of the underground station. To the right, a road out of Metro Wilanowska bus terminus and P&R at 18:40. I waited a while for the rain to ease off, observed vehicles moving through the puddle to see where it was most shallow and finally drove home. As I was fording my way through the small pond I hit a number plate that had come off another car and a guy in fiat punto who drove in front of me broke off the front bumper of his car. The rest of the road home was all downhill… On many roads in Warsaw water was knee-deep and many cars got stuck in the puddles. I have a recipe for driving through such huge muddles – slowly, but not very – first gear, speed of some 10kmph, 1,500 revolutions per minute – the engine runs smoothly and steadily. Even though, I’m always anxious when I drive and the car encounters too much water – in 1998 during a huge downpour our car then (a one-year-old Rover 214) packed up on the middle, south-bound lane of Al. Witosa in Warsaw. Visibility was low and other drivers speeded despite pouring rain. Fortunately, none rear-ended our car. The cause of that breakdown were defective ignition coils. Last year the ignition coils packed up after two days of driving in heavy rain and through numerous puddles. Mechanics from Renault garage said they had been long overdue for replacement…

The other downpour, wreaking havoc to Warsaw on Wednesday, 27 July again laid bare how badly drained some places in Warsaw are. Heavens opened before dawn and it rained dogs and cats for a few hours. The way to work was undisrupted by any traffic impediments, except for a waterlogged street in Mysiadło. Problems began when I got off the Centrum underground station. To the right – a pavement between the entrance to underground station and W-wa Śródmieście railway station. People tried to waddle through ankle-deep water, yet few risked treading through the area where puddle was the deepest. I tried to pass it by heading towards Pałac Kultury – also to no avail – here only the higher parts of paved area weren’t flooded, but rainwater was running beneath pedestrians’ shoes.

To the right – on the same day – the lasts section of the obstacle course called ‘way to work’ – this is a pedestrian passage between the fence of second underground line construction site and Rondo Daszyńskiego. Even a small precipitation leaves one big puddle between the fence and concrete crash barrier. Pedestrian have to beware – firstly they must watch out for inconsiderate drivers who can splash water from puddles on the road on them and soak them up completely, secondly, as it was many times impossible to walk there, city authorities have put up some plastic steps to let workers from nearby office buildings to tread from one step to another and get into the other side of the puddle without having shoes and socks drenched. Unfortunately, the steps are slippery, I usually don’t risk going there and take a longer route around the whole roundabout, which is not problem-free, as the terrain is anything but flat and water flows into small basins…

I could grumble about the inclement weather, but I have to say I like it. There are some nuisances, such as huge puddles and accompanying air humidity which makes me break sweat even if the temperature is only +20C. (insertion: I wish to lodge a complaint about quality of air inside Warsaw’s public vehicles. In underground carriages and in trams it’s much hotter than outside and, to boot, close. There were years when it was always cool in the summer in the underground and riding it was a pure pleasure, why did it cease?) Actually I got used to such weather and I get on with this. It’s much, much better than unbearable heat of +30C, clear sky and drought, but on the other hand I feel sorry for the holidaymakers. I remember July 2000 when rains fell even more often, average temperature was 1.5 degrees lower and spending holidays when the weather’s so bad is not an enviable experience.


On Friday I went to town by public transport only. Commuting half way by car is convenient, but exudes a feeling of some isolation. My route was not the quickest, but I decided to take a train from Jeziorki (see classic pics of converging tracks) and this involves getting to the station by two buses (no suburban-zone ticket again), to see the progress of construction of Warsaw southern bypass. Much hasn’t changed since mid-June and a fellow SGH student Jakub Warszauer is totally right to claim he hasn’t seen a road with such unequal progress of works. On some sections the road is not ready, but actually passable, on some sections nothing has been done. May the works on junctions speed up and there will be a chance that it is opened in the second half of 2012.

Leaving the office I somehow anticipated traffic will be stationary and my guess was right – see the snap of ul. Towarowa – vehicles moving in snail’s pace in both directions. The same on all streets around, in. Al. Jerozolimskie, Al. Krakowska, ul. Puławska. This is what I call „holiday Friday afternoon jam” – traffic jams on Fridays during holidays are worse than on normal working days when schools are opened. And this makes me ponder upon the factors determining traffic density. Just look – in non-holiday period ul. Puławska in the morning between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. is totally jammed. In the summer the traffic is not sparse, yet I make it from home to P&R Wilanowska in 20 minutes and drive no faster than 80 kmph. How many car users have to give up on taking this road to make it passable? Given that in my office I observe around 30% of staff are on holiday, some car users don’t have to drop their children to school and some people who normally commute by public transport use their cars, I estimate that the traffic volume is some 35% lower than over the school year. So let’s say if number of cars is reduced by one-third, commuting by car becomes worth considering…

Oddly enough, around an hour ago the sun chased away the clouds, but it didn’t take long, as a big storm cloud is rolled in from the west and the rain lashed down a few minutes ago.

Forecasters say August should bring more sunny days and temperatures typical for summer. Personally I’d prefer the current weather to stay on, but my sympathy for hapless holidaymakers tells me to quell these thoughts and long for some summer heat. It won’t be that bothersome as August nights are shorter and even with day-time highs of over +30C, mornings should salvage us with a cooling breeze…

Polish teenagers and assertiveness

Lesson from the last weekend (everything ended up happily) learnt: unfavourable circumstances will happen, but they should not serve as an excuse to hold back from blogging. The only fix are short, up-to-the point postings, like this one.

Commuting to town by train, though not as convenient as in one's own car has the same advantage as travelling by bus. Being tinned like sardines with fellow passengers means overhearing their chats and going unpunished with it. Apart from listening to ordinary grumblers who gripe about how much work they have, how stupid their boss is, one can hear what contemporary teenegers talk about with one another. I have commuted to Warsaw for almost eight years and have watched the subject matters of those talks drfiting from school goings-on, family affairs and friendships towards... partying. Almost every day I hear teenagers reminescing last weekend's booze-up, bragging about how much they drank, what they did after they got hammered, who puked first, who licked whose... Never mind... I have to say when I was 14 or 15 I wasn't an exemplary teenager. I wasn't a problem child, but I partying didn't affect negatively my performance at school, I never got really badly pissed, I never smoked, never did anything I would regret or could be ashamed of. Generally it has never occured to me that indulging in boozing can be something I can be proud of.

Yesterday I took the fast train from Radom at 7:07 from NI. I travelled with a group of first-year students who tried to cadge some money from fellow passengers, because they were suffering from hangover. They planned to knock back a few bottles of some kind of low-budget alcohol to survive first two lectures, then get hammered again and sober up during the last class. Fortunately, none of the passengers granted their request. I also said 'no'. Without hesitation, yet I wonder whether I should have used foul language to give them to understand what I thought about their stupidity. On the other hand, this could provoke at least a verbal scuffle and I actually wanted to spend the day at work, not somewhere else.

Today I took the 7:55 Warsaw-bound service. On my way to the station, as I was passing a local shop, I spotted a girl. Somehow she immediately caught my eyes. With hindsight I realised she had reminded me of someone (another long story, should be titled "I could kick myself for what I desisted from"). She looked kind of strange - unzipped jacket and low-cut blouse exposed her cleavage to easterly, chilly wind and she staggered a bit. We moved closer, staring at each other's eyes. Passing me by, she smiled, as the one she reminded me of used to smile, grabbed my arm and asked if I could buy her something... Before she finished the sentence several thoughts ran through my head. Was she hungry and wanted me to buy her food? Did she stagger because she had not eaten breakfast? Should I give her money or go with her to the shop? Surely the latter. ...because I'm under eighteen. "I'm sorry, I won't help you", I rebutted and walked away, still slightly mesmerised by her smile and bufuddled. I knew I had done what I had been supposed to do by refusing to grant her request, but unanswered questions kept nagging me...

Should I have told her off?
Should I have asked her what exactly she wanted me to buy (she could mean only cigarettes and alcohol)?
Why did she look like a tart?
How old was she? She looked like 16, but it was just next to middle school so she could be younger...
Why was she desperate to get what she wanted to get?
Should I have asked what the hell she was doing with her life and why?
Should I have tried to show interest in her situation, should I have stopped for a while and talk to her?

I have been thinking about the sitaution for some 13 hours. I told the story my colleagues at work, they treated it as an anecdote and expressed their concern about their teenage children. I worked normally but I had the girl in my mind all the time. It even prompted me to do what I do very seldom - I posted something in the middle of the week!

If I happen to meet her, provided I recognise her (I have no memory for faces), should I react anyhow? I'm not indifferent, yet I can't honestly say I care about her fate. She was a splitting image of my 'wasted chance', she reminded me about her, what actually was a reason for my emotional reaction...

Another happy return

Those yearning for a longer weekly piece, please get on to Polandian, where I’ve enumerated some things that get on my nerves. Now I’m awaiting some mud slung at me by unfailing commentators. The post on Polandian is not actually very optimistic and as all my postings was written on the spur of the moment, left for the posterity after a brainwave had come over me.

What can cheer one up in a period when daylight is so scarce? Mikołajki - a Polish custom of giving token gifts to your near and dear is still alive. For five years of studying of SGH, where there are no fixed student groups I’ve forgotten how it feels, but this year I got caught up in the exchange of gifts in my office. My boss drew a person on my behalf and handed me a slip of paper containing the name. At the beginning I thought it was a considerable nuisance, as deciding what to buy to a twenty years older woman seemed a hard nut to crack. But then I used my brains, found my colleague’s profile on Goldenline and discovered we both are fond of U2 music. After a short research in the Internet I ordered a book “The Name of Love” about the band’s lyrics. Another colleague watched her reaction on Monday, when the gifts were handed (I was absent) and said she had been pretty delighted. I picked up my present on Thursday. I think the hand-painted bauble will be a nice decoration, but surely also proves someone had no idea what to buy (I was tipped off that one guy from sales (rather reticent) does it in his spare time). Next Friday we have a Christmas party – something I haven’t enjoyed since 2005. SGH is not really conducive to socialising…

The centre of Warsaw is lit by Christmas decorations. To the right – ul. Emilii Plater, modernised this summer is designed be the high street of Poland’s capital to bewitch Warsaw’s inhabitants and tourists. There are always some people who stick around there every day and who don’t take notice of its brilliance. I took a few snaps in the dark, without a tripod, on the display of my camera they seemed sharp, but after transferring them to my computer the photos turned out to be a bit blurred. Maybe next week I’ll take the camera again to get it right.

A widely publicised event held yesterday was a Złota 44 construction reopening ceremony. Orco (property developer), after a court handed down a ruling favourable to the developer and thus brought the dispute over the building to the close, is going to resume construction works in January. Façade of the building should be finished by Euro 2012 and the building will be finished by the end of 2012. Time will tell if the splendid edifice will overlook Warsaw, but yesterday’s ceremony was nothing but a misfire. I don’t understand what the whole hype about the whole 15-minutes long event was about. They played some music, lit the building with flashy spotlights and thus thanked Warsaw for patience. Some people stopped by to watch the so-called show, but majority remained indifferent.

A step in good direction is the new timetable of suburban trains. Substantial improvements in transport links from my suburb to Warsaw will come into effect tomorrow and I’m glad to learn about it, as from 1 February 2011 I plan to commute by train. From tomorrow on, there will be five trains between 7:00 and 8:15 (including three double-deckers) and eight between 6:30 and 9:00 (four double-deckers). I only wonder whether the services will be reliable. During last two weeks cards were stacked against them. In the long run I plan to commute by car and leave it on P&R Okęcie (currently under construction), next to W-wa Okęcie bus & tram terminus and then take a tram to the centre. The only problem is how to get there before the dual-carriageway bypass of Warsaw is built… I’ve heard local roads between Dawidy and Raszyn are jammed in the morning. And if more trains run in the morning, will it mean more people will drop their cars and go to town by train? Will the carriages be packed?

Now a small request to Mr Santa Claus. I bought some stocks in late November? Please bring me a substantial rally and keep all skeletons in the cupboards locked up until the end of the year.