Warsaw Worships Wehicles?

Warsaw is a fairly pedestrian friendly city. But only fairly. Being a user of public transport and spending as much time on travelling around the city visiting students as I do, I really do feel that after nine months I’ve got to know the city’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to transport infrastructure.

Not the Answer

The metro is a joy. It’s fast, cheap, clean, not too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter.  More importantly: it’s reliable. Apparently last year in London there was only one day that a full service was running on the Underground. If something goes wrong with the service, you careen around tiny tunnels, drenched in sweat, trying to get to an alternate destination and fighting hundreds of other people doing the same thing (In that very British way by barging past people but remaining completely silent all the while).

I know that all that is for reasons of historical underinvestment and an aging network (whoever said first mover advantage was real should get on the Northern Line to go to work) but after 6 years in London it’s a genuine pleasure to scoot from the absolute south of the City proper to its North within thirty minutes. Without the Warsaw metro my daily life would be considerably the worse. I cannot sing its praises more highly (whilst asking for a gold coin or two to pay for my bread).

Buses crisscross the city and are always on time (without fail, unless there’s an abnormal weather occurrence) Trams outstrip cars as they sail through traffic jams and in the main run on an East-West axis. After 9 months I know Warsaw well enough to be able hop on and off different buses and trams to minimise journey times and save a few minutes here and there. In amongst the smells, the swaying and the seat-giving-upping I listen in to plotki, complaints and arguments. I read articles over the back of peoples’ shoulders and get very curious if I see someone reading an English language book.  

Poles spend a lot of time reading on public transport, just like us Brits, and I’ve list the feeling that I was somehow “different” from the people around me. It must mean I’m at home somehow. I don’t want or need a car and I’d hate to lose this connection to the people of the city just so I could sing along to Boxcar Willie in an Opel Astra.

Big Brother Is Making you Walk

Anyway, I digress. As a walker of walks, a jumper of puddles and a scuffer of dirty boots, I really spend quite a lot of time on the streets of Warsaw. It’s a city that suffers from terrible traffic -some of the worst in Europe - but I can’t bring myself to sympathise with drivers who live inside the city. Why not take a bus, save money and spend some time reading and getting in touch with the sights and smells of your fellow Man? You’d be doing us all a favour.

The city’s municipalities don’t seem to agree though. Warsaw’s vital arteries seem enslaved to the car at the expense of pedestrians and public transport users. No buses lanes and gigantic gantries which take ages to walk across mean the car is delayed just that little bit less. Added to which a weirdly persuasive dedication to obeying The Green Man at traffic crossings (We could do with a bit of crowd sourced Big Society here and maybe trust adults to actually cross when they judge it safe to do so) and it can sometimes feel that the city doesn’t really want you walking places. 

ARGGGG

Take this irritating fence erected on Cybernetyki as part of the ongoing road works there. I now have to walk about 200 metres where a quick and highly fine-able skip across the road would have done before.

I’m getting annoyed about minor and relatively unimportant things outside of my control in the place I live... must mean I’m feeling at home.