New urban toponyms

Once upon a time there was a place called Okęcie. It was a village outside Warsaw. The airport appeared here in 1934. After the war, the capital expanded, and Okęcie became a district of Warsaw. And to Okęcie (the place, not the airport) a huge number of buses (124, 154, 141, 177, 317, 703, 706, 711, 715, 721, 728, 733, 807, N38, N88) arrive - plus the 9 and 35 tram.

Then, in 2001, the airport was renamed the Frédéric Chopin Airport. Of course, Warsaw residents obstinately refuse to call the airport anything other than Okęcie.

Now, as of the middle of last month, ZTM, our urban transport authority has decided to rename Okęcie bus and tram terminal "P+R Aleja Krakowska". The 715, as it runs through Jeziorki, no longer has the word Okęcie on the front, only this weird drętwomowa P+R Al. Krakowska. Why not "P+R Okęcie"? Because people might think its at the airport. But the airport is Lotnisko Międzynarodowe im. Fryderyka Chopina, not Okęcie, you think - but no, ZTM is only confirming the obvious - Varsovians still call the airport Okęcie.

Good God Almighty. What a fuss has broken out! Commuters, residents, local politicians are all weighing in against this horror of neotoponymics. Just because ZTM has opened a brand new multi-level park and ride here, doesn't mean that centuries (well, decades) of tradition should be chucked down the toilet!

I have three issues. One is renaming local places for the sake of renaming. Whether it's Rondo Babka now being officially known as Rondo Zgrupowania Armii Krajowej Imienia Radosława (why use two syllables when 16 will do) or insisting on Frédéric Chopin International when every Varsovian, sober or not, will refer to the airport simply as Okęcie. The mania extends to renaming the bus stop Supon (on ul. Poloneza) 'Tango', after Warsaw's shortest street, one that doesn't have a single building on it.

Issue number two is the use of "P+R" when the Polish for "Park and Ride" is Parkuj i jedż... One would therefore assume that the Polish acronym for this useful facility is 'Pij" - the Polish for the command - Drink! PiJ do dna! Drain your glass!
Issue number three is the fact that Warsaw's Park and Ride facilities are placed too close to the city. By the time one reaches P+R Al. Krakowskie, having sat through unimaginably massive traffic jams at Janki, one might as well drive on into the city centre. The same goes for P+R Stokłosy, Ursynów and Wilanowska - they are of greatest value to locals. Warsaw needs to extend its tram and Metro lines way, way deeper into the exurbs.

This time last year:
Politics - time to change gear

This time two years ago:
Preference and genetics

This time three years ago:
Kraków scenes