Citizens have not been satisfied with public transport in Banja Luka for years. Fewer departures, poorly connected lines, buses without air conditioning, delays and ticket prices are just some of the reasons for dissatisfaction.
Source: City of Banjaluka
The dissatisfaction of those who use city buses every day is also evidenced recent incidentwhen one of the passengers verbally attacked the driver for being late, and during the drive, many people complained to each other about public transport.
But let’s go back a few years. The downfall of public transport in the largest city of Srpska began in March 2020, when, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, public transport in Banja Luka was completely suspended, and citizens who bought monthly tickets were deprived of both money and transportation.
After some time, the transport started to function again with a reduced timetable.
The departure times changed from day to day, which made life and the fulfillment of daily duties much more difficult for citizens. The carriers then asked for money so that, as they said, the passengers would not suffer.
Then there was an increase in fuel prices, so they again asked for (and got!) money from the city authorities, so that the price of transportation would remain the same. The city agreed to the payment of aid, as well as subsidies for certain categories of society, but also to price increases, so the ticket in August 2022 went from 1.80 to 2.30 KM.
No one knows when a bus leaves
Schedules of departures are still unknown to many citizens, especially those who do not use the transport every day, because timetables at bus stops have not existed for a long timeand the same can only be found in some buses glued to the glass.
For those who are not from Banjaluka, it is certainly even more difficult, because the traffic changes in the city center also changed the route of the city transport, as well as the stopswhich are inadequately marked even after almost three months.
After the introduction of one-way traffic, all the stops in front of Bosko were moved to the “old bus station”, where an indescribable crowd then arose.
After a few days, information appeared that the stop for buses that bought passengers in front of Bosko will be moved a few tens of meters lower, that is, next to the Petar Kočić park where there were taxi stands. This was done, but without any notification to the passengers, so some buses still stop at both stations only 50 meters apart today.
To make matters worse, the new bus stops are marked only on the road, but there are no information boards on them that should indicate which buses stop there, as well as the timetable, which has not been written on these boards and where there are any for a long time. , even though he is the mayor In September 2022, Draško Stanivuković announced modern bus stops where there will be phone chargers, internet and an electronic screen with information about the timetable. Now, most of the stations in the city center do not have any stops, and it is not known when they will get them.
Fewer departures, more expensive ticket
After 2020, the number of departures never returned to the old, so most buses now run every half an hour or every 20 minutes, while before the corona virus, most lines ran every 15 minutes.
A ticket for city transport still costs 2.30 KM, although fuel is cheaper on average by 50 pfennigs.but carriers still complain that the City owes them millions.
No response from GU
After more than 15 days, we have not received a response to numerous questions and calls to the City Administration, to which we asked for answers and those responsible for the poor state of public transport.
Some media recently announced that the average age of Banja Luka buses is 16 years.
Dejan Mijić, director of Autoprevoz GStells Mondo that there are more departures than before, as well as that the average age of vehicles in this company is far less than 16 years, and that the fleet is renewed every year.
He admits that there are delays, but that they are caused by crowds, and that he is not sure that the pompously announced public transport study will improve the situation.
“I was not at that meeting and I was never provided with the text of the study. I don’t know if those changes will improve the situation, because not a single paper does that, but the activities that are carried out in that direction, and currently only that GU according to carriers is increasing, while all other prices have jumped”said Mijić for our portal.
There is no good word for study President of the Banjaluka City Assembly Ljubo Ninković who claims that the announced fare reduction would mean new allocations from the city budget for carriers.
“It’s a very risky move, I’m not sure how the councilors will welcome it. That’s a lot of money that will go into the pockets of the transporters”Ninković said, even though the carriers have received multi-million sums so far.
Stanivuković, as well as the citizens, are pinning all their hopes on the public study that was carried out for more than two years, which was completed in December last year and, as the mayor claims, is ready for parliamentary procedure, and what the public knows so far is that the price of an individual ticket should have been much lower than it is now.
Until that happens, citizens are condemned to delays, freezes, waiting and complete confusion, which the “transportation revolution” has only increased.
(WORLD)