Fastest Shinkansen line Nozomi takes two and a half hours to cover 515 kilometres from Tokyo to Osaka and departs around a hundred times a day. Fastest train connecting Slovakia’s two biggest cities takes about five hours to cover 443 kms on a good day leaving the station 17 times a day. If you want to go from Skopje to Bitola by train there are only 3 trains a day and it takes three and a half hours to cover just little over hundred kilometres. And if you were planning on taking a train to arguably more famous city of Ohrid, well tough luck, because the train from Skopje ends in Kičevo even though Google will try to convince you otherwise. Only one of these takes less time than using a car. And don’t even get me started on the bus travel.
Undoubtedly, the current state of public transport (PT) in the majority of the world is not meeting the expectations of the passengers. You might have experienced it yourself. The train is late, the tram is overcrowded, the underground only goes to a few parts of the city, the bus takes too long… The vehicles are older than your grandparents, AC is too hot or too cold if it’s even working, buying a ticket is like jumping through the loops of fire, if you are lucky enough to find a seat there is a chewing gum in the middle and candy packs on the floor. God forbid you go late at night alone with a strange looking person staring at you the whole time while the light flickers and the vehicle is making noises that sound like something is not working as it should be. Strange smells, ages old dirt, wind coming in through closed doors, or regular fire hazard (Slovak trains, I’m looking at you). Not to mention people living in settlements where public transport is limited to five buses a day or less. The reasons not to use PT seem to be a never-ending list. Hence people who can afford it rather opt for a car that provides a freedom to go whenever wherever in comfort. However, cars have their own issues like air and noise pollution, traffic jams, parking space requirements and so on. Things a society should be moving away from to promote sustainability, and to create cities that are more pleasant to live in. Why do you think people enjoy living in Copenhagen?
So, how can we make public transport suck a little less? First of all, significant improvement takes not months but years. Results of new rules and policies likely won’t be felt right from the beginning, but if the process is communicated with the public transparently, governing bodies should not be afraid to make changes the results of which would be felt only after the closest elections. Secondly, accessibility and functionality. What do I mean by that?
Accessibility
As much as it is necessary, accessibility is not only about easy use of available vehicles by disabled, elderly or mothers with strollers. Accessibility of public transportation also includes access to information. In the digital era there is no excuse for either publicly or privately owned carriers to not have functional websites in at least two languages with understandable timetables, maps and connection search function, as well as information about the ticket prices, selling places or option of digital ticket. Additionally, actual information should be available at all stations and bigger stops. While regular passengers of public transport might not need these on daily, possible new users might feel deterred from switching to public transport because of inability to figure out how it works.
Furthermore, the cost of tickets is usually the apple of discord when it comes to public transport. While some advocate for free public transport with the equal affordability for everyone, others see the necessity for rentability and profit as more important. Undoubtedly, the service itself can never be free. Infrastructure investments, workforce, maintenance, energy source all cost money whether they are paid from collected taxes or the ticket sales. Thus, finding a balance between a ticket cost that won’t reduce demand and burden the low-incomers, and governmental subsidies is an important task for PT planners.
Functionality
Functionality is another key factor in PT. It’s nice to know when your tram is supposed to leave and how much the ticket costs, but it does not matter if you have to walk half an hour to the nearest stop and the tram departs twice an hour even then still being late. Convenient locations of stops, stations and interchanges are a part of effective PT. Understandably, there can’t be a bus stop in front of everyone’s house, but it should be within a walkable distance less than 15 minutes away. The closer the better. Interchanges and stations should be in strategic locations and easy to navigate to reduce the transfer time. Shortening the travel time should be one of the goals of effective public transport. Dedicated bus lanes, unobstructed tram & rail tracks and options for choosing connections with reduced number of stops can all reduce travel time making PT more attractive.
Moreover, functional PT should be reliable with sufficient frequency of departures. In Japan, conductors apologize even for short delays, because of the possible disturbance to the passengers’ plans. In Slovakia, after hours of delay you have to fight for reimbursement. In Macedonia, you should be lucky the train even arrived. Unreliability drives up the perceived costs in people’s eyes, making them choose individual transport to save time.
Despite the underwhelming current state of public transport, it doesn’t have to be this way. Functional and accessible PT not only effectively transports passengers but also helps the environment, tourism and commerce, opens up more employment and leisure options, supports public health, and last but not least promotes more movement into the daily lives. The governing bodies responsible for urban planning and public transport should consider higher investments to make PT more functional and accessible if their goal is to make cities more liveable, because people who already have cars, and there are a lot of them, are less likely to use PT if it isn’t undeniably more convenient.
Dáša Holecová
Sources:
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3563
VOICES 
Leave a comment