In order to finally circulate better on the roads of Bucharest, we need more dedicated lanes for public transportation.
But Bucharest City Hall says it can only arrange a few kilometers per year. Here is why.
And also, the plans for 2024.
In the 2020 electoral campaign, Bucharest's Mayor Nicușor Dan promised dedicated lanes on major boulevards.
Here is the page from his program that contained this promise:
On these lanes, buses could move forward without waiting in line. Consequently, the time it takes to cover a route would significantly decrease.
And this could convince more and more Bucharest residents to leave their cars at home and travel by bus.
It is crucial to increase the number of people traveling by public transportation. As more and more people see that they can move faster if they leave their cars at home, the number of cars on the roads will decrease.
And this will mean less time spent in traffic for everyone and less pollution.
The issue is that dedicated lanes are being delayed.
How many dedicated lanes do we have in Bucharest? And how many are from Nicușor Dan's mandate
Until 2020, Bucharest had 16.5 kilometers of dedicated lane.
According to PMB data, the length of some lanes has changed since then. Additionally, in 2023, another 6.7 km of dedicated lane were created.
In total, we now have 21.7 km of dedicated lane in Bucharest.
Here is the inventory of dedicated lanes in the Capital, as communicated by PMB at our request:
- Unirii Boulevard - 3.6 km
- Decebal Boulevard - 1.1 km
- Regina Elisabeta Boulevard - M. Kogălniceanu Boulevard - 3 km
- Plevnei Avenue - 0.3 km
- Independenţei Embankment - 0.5 km
- Corneliu Coposu Boulevard - 0.3 km
- Dorobanţilor Avenue - 2 km (including 0.7 km completed in 2023)
- Floreasca Avenue - 1 km (completed in 2023)
- Dacia Boulevard - 2 km (including 0.4 km completed in 2023)
- Mareşal Constantin Prezan Boulevard - 0.5 km
- Kiseleff Avenue - 1.6 km
- Aviatorilor Boulevard - 1.1 km (completed in 2023)
- Lt. Aviator Radu Beller Street - 0.4 km (completed in 2023)
- Regele Mihai 1 Boulevard - 1.2 km
- Iuliu Maniu Boulevard - 1.2 km
- Drumul Taberei Boulevard - 0.9 km
- Griviței Avenue - 1 km
In total, according to STB statistics that you can access here, the length of bus routes in the Capital measures hundreds of kilometers.
In these circumstances, two questions arise:
- why do we have so few dedicated lanes?
- why are they being established so slowly?
First of all, here is who and how can establish dedicated lanes for public transportation.
"Proposals for dedicated lanes for public transportation are made by the Bucharest Transport Company (STB), the Intercommunity Development Association for Public Transportation Bucharest - Ilfov (TPBI), the Transport Directorate of PMB, the Street Administration (also under the PMB's subordination - editor's note) and the Traffic Brigade.
These are subject to the approval of the Technical Traffic Commission (CTC) of Bucharest and the Traffic Brigade and are financed and implemented in the field by the administrator of the respective road section, generally the Street Administration," PMB transmitted, at the request of spotmedia.ro, since the beginning of last year.
Even the conditions for establishing a dedicated lane are not easy.
"The Traffic Police has established as a principle for approving the creation of dedicated lanes for public transportation their placement on roads with at least three lanes per direction and with the removal of as few parking spaces as possible. These conditions are hard to meet," the Street Administration transmitted, at the request of Spotmedia.ro.
How many dedicated lanes will be arranged in 2024 and where
The Street Administration states that in 2024 "the creation of dedicated lanes is planned on at least the following road sections":
- Magheru Blvd. - Bălcescu - towards the center, between Piața Romană and George Enescu Street - 1.25 km;
- Magheru Blvd. - towards the outskirts - 0.7 km;
- Cotroceni Highway - on both directions, between Dr. Marinescu Street and Zării Street - 0.45 km;
- Vasile Pârvan Street - towards N. Kogălniceanu Blvd. - 0.15 km.
In total, 2.55 km of dedicated lane could be arranged this year.
How much dedicated lane is needed in the Capital
We asked PMB what the need for dedicated lane is in Bucharest. So we can at least estimate how long it will take to create and expand a network of dedicated lanes in the city.
The institution informed us that it currently doesn't know, but will try to find out.
"The Bucharest City Hall will conduct an analysis regarding the total number of dedicated lanes for public transportation, so far interventions have been made in critical points," communicated the institution led by Nicușor Dan, at the request of Spotmedia.ro.
Once established, dedicated lanes need to be monitored
The effectiveness of dedicated lanes in reducing traffic congestion also depends on the involvement of local police officers and those of the Traffic Brigade.
Article 104 of the Road Code states that only public transportation vehicles and vehicles with priority regime can circulate on the dedicated lane.
But without police monitoring, there are also other hurried drivers who enter these lanes. And this hinders the movement of buses.
More about dedicated lane projects, as well as other traffic decongestion measures in Bucharest, can be found in this episode of the Citizen podcast.
You can watch it in video format on Youtube:
You can also find the podcast episode in audio format on Spotify and other major podcasting platforms: