Well, to Platan Park anyway for my first meeting of the morning. Puławska is now a no-go zone for commuting as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather walk over five and half km from home to Platan Park than 1km from home to the bus stop on Puławska, wait for bus, then stand in a jam-packed rickety old Ikarus that takes 20 minutes to cover the four and half km to Poleczki and then another 1.1km walk from the bus stop on Puławska to Platan Park. Why no bike or car? Tonight I'm dining with clients. Things come to a pretty pass when walking is quicker than public transport!
Everywhere I look I see the destruction wreaked on the land by motorists. Above: across the road on ul. Trombity, neighbours have put out white-painted concrete bollards (from flower-pot moulds) to protect their grass verge. Below: The far end of ul. Dumki. A rat-run chosen by owners of four-wheel drives - the only way around the roadworks on ul. Trombity and Kórnicka.
As I walk, I also notice the derelict houses along the way. Below: One on ul. Dumki. In the UK, property doesn't lie idle; it belongs to someone - if they have no use for it, they sell it and buy holidays, cars, clothes etc. Here, because of uncertain title and uncertain markets, empty properties can just languish for decades.
Below: Derelict house on ul. Sztajerki. This place has also been abandoned for as long as I can remember. What am I doing on Sztajerki?
I'm forced to detour, as Poloneza is now finally closed to pedestrians and cyclists - the contractors have placed security guards to prevent local residents from crossing the railway tracks. So on, via Sztajerki, to ul. Oberka, and another derelict house (below).
Look on this picture and be aware that in a few weeks time this derelict house will be gone - it is smack in the path of the S2 South Warsaw Bypass. There's a barking dog here, which suggest that some homeless people are living here.
I end up walking a lot more today - from Rozbrat bus stop, via my office and the Gromada hotel, to the Old Town, then back to Metro Świętokrzyska. Over 12km (8 miles) walked in a full working day.
Why no taking 319 bus, which stops around 8:07 at Trombity stop?
ReplyDeleteEvery time it's convenient for me I walk to Karczunkowska and take 319 bus, which is the old Ikarus. Maybe clapped-out, but empty.
And I'll be standing up to those vehicle. Hungarian buses are much more durable - most of them have mileages exceeding one million kilometres and some reached two million, unlike the modern buses that conk out after less than half a million kilometres (info from ZTM forum or sth like this). Ikaruses have more upsides - in the winter it's comfortably cool inside, in the summer not as hot as in hell... And they don't catch fire like the new ones - here;s the reason why you may not like them - no topics for next pożar autobusowy photo coverages.
I'll be missing those buses when they are phased out, in 2011.
Walking is nothing unusual - I had to walk several times from NI up, along Puławska to the junction with ul. Ludwinowska and I was overtaking the snarled-up traffic...