Today being the day of our monthly business mixer, I took public transport into town. Ul. Puławska was as awful as ever (above). The 709 bus took 33 minutes from ul. Karczunkowska to Wilanowska metro station, a distance of less than 8km (five miles). Average speed - 15 kmph or 9 mph. On the way home (at half past ten at night, little traffic), the same distance took 20 minutes, or 24 kmph/ 16 mph.There's talk right now about creating a bus lane down the length of ul. Puławska. It would have the effect of speeding up buses into town in the morning and out of town in the evening peak. It would save 13 minutes or so off my journey by bus - but by confining three lanes of car traffic into two, it would clog up ul Puławska by half as much again. (Look at the above picture and imagine this load of traffic crushed into two lanes. Now, if the authorities' response would be to double the number of buses - then fine, many people could be tempted to ride them into town. The buses are currently packed solid at rush hours as it is.
This leads planners (if such indeed exist in the City of Warsaw) to wrestle with classic game theory. Create bus lanes and increase frequency of buses, and yes, some drivers will give up their cars and take to the buses to avoid the worse traffic jams. But once enough motorists do so, pressure on road space will ease, so some bus users will return to their cars. And another less-than-optimal equilibrium will be reached. If the city authorities paint bus lanes down Puławska without dramatically increasing the number of buses to use them, then they deserve to be turfed out of office.
Love the Blog Michael. Just found it recently and want you to know your comments are spot on.
ReplyDeleteI have buying books on dvd and listening to them on the way into work. Makes the journey far more relaxing and at times I wish to stay in the car longer just to keep listening to the story - been through most of Dickens recently and now starting with Alexander McCall Smith.
Michael, these pictures look a little like Chicago traffic:). Busses are a great idea, but if the Polish love their cars as much as midwesterners do, it'll never work in the long run. They'll complain day and night about the commute, but they won't give up their cars; the whole 'have your cake and eat it, too' thing...
ReplyDeleteHmmm... While midwesterners may be too attached to their cars, north-west Europeans will go to work by public transport, bicycle or scooter without giving it a second thought. Question is - which model will Poles adopt - Chicago or Copenhagen?
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