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Tag: Buses

  • Balkans Trip Day 7 – Podgorica to Žabljak Bus Journey

    Balkans Trip Day 7 – Podgorica to Žabljak Bus Journey

    Our plan for the next few days was to head for Durmitor National Park in north-west Montenegro and so we headed to the bus station in the morning. We were pleased to discover that there was a bus heading there relatively soon meaning that we didn’t have to wait about in Podgorica. Jonathan acquired the tickets because he is responsible for transportational matters, while I hold the equally demanding portfolio covering snacks, complaints and standing nearby.

    The bus was a direct service and there’s an extra charge for anyone who wants to put luggage into the back, but, fortunately, Jonathan and I travel light so we didn’t have to deal with that little problem.

    We selected seats at the back beside the emergency exit, which provided some welcome additional legroom. This apparently left us responsible for evacuating everyone if something went wrong, despite no-one carrying out even the most basic assessment of our strength, courage or general suitability.

    Crossing the Morača River out of Podgorica.

    There were beautiful views once again as we crossed the country, it’s certainly got some rather lovely landscapes to look at. The roads were winding but still quite wide, so it didn’t feel like we were on some dangerous escapade in the hills.

    More troubling was the number of areas affected by fire. The contrast between the scorched ground and the otherwise beautiful landscape was particularly stark.

    There were several patches of quite burnt areas along the route where there had been previous fires.

    The air was smoky for stretches of the journey which felt a little sub-optimal.

    It was all rather sobering if I’m being honest. Individual fires can I imagine have numerous causes, but increasingly hot and dry conditions are raising the risk and potential severity of wildfires across southern Europe. It seems likely that scenes such as these will become more common rather than less.

    We also saw a helicopter collecting and dropping water on one of the fires. It provided some reassurance that the situation was being actively tackled, although the scale of the surrounding damage demonstrated the difficulty of bringing such fires under control.

    Approaching the town of Žabljak and we were ready for a couple of days of walking in the area. The bus journey had cost around £10 each and it took around three hours, meaning that we arrived in the early afternoon and the first thing that I realised that although it was hot, it wasn’t insanely hot.

  • £2 Bus Cap Extended – How Very Lovely

    £2 Bus Cap Extended – How Very Lovely

    Apologies for a little interruption to my ‘riveting’ write-up of the group trip to Gdansk.

    It’s just been announced that the Government is extending the £2 bus fare policy until 31 October 2023 and then it’ll be increased until £2.50 until November 2024. This was always inevitable given the popularity of the scheme, as was their increase in cost, with a longer extension also almost being certain as it’ll be hard to row back from this now. Personally, this will be of significant benefit to me over the course of the year, one small piece of good news for public transport at least. The scheme also seems to have been a much wider success, encouraging people onto public transport with fares having been just too high before.

  • Malta – Buses

    I’m nearing the end of my 21 days in Malta and I’ve hardly posted about the buses…. I’ve seen a lot of the above map during my time on the islands, and I’ve taken about 65 bus journeys. The 65 is an estimate, I haven’t carefully noted down each one….

    The three photos are just random ones from a trip going from Valletta back to the hotel. I was trying to capture some more of the interesting shots of the sea, but the bus got busy and someone stood in front of me. I thought taking photos of someone’s head and the background just poking out wouldn’t really work. So, I present three photos of the early part of the journey instead.

    And, this leads me onto saying just how crowded the buses usually are. They’re full more often than not, especially between 07:00 and 10:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00. The bus service is reliable and comprehensive, with no bus during my trip being more than fifteen minutes late. However, they do perhaps need more buses as I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like during the busier summer months.

    The bus prices are cheap, especially for locals who get a discounted rate. I purchased a €21 card every week which gave me unlimited bus travel for 7 days, as much as I wanted on both the main island and Gozo. I bought my tickets from WH Smiths at the airport, although for reasons unknown they said this purchase couldn’t be made with credit cards. Individual tickets are €1.50 during the winter months and €2 during the summer months, and this includes free transfers within two hours of the initial ticket purchase. Weekly tickets also last for seven fulls days, so if I first used the ticket on a Sunday afternoon I could still use it the following Sunday morning.

    Maltese buses used to be rickety old things of various different designs, although they apparently had quite a lot of charm to them. Personally, I don’t really want charm with a public transportation service, I want efficiency. The country also used to have a rail line between Valletta and Mdina, but it got shut down a long time ago, which is unfortunate to say the least.

    And another thought is that very few customers seem to thank the bus driver, it’s unusually low compared to other countries. I haven’t quite worked out why this is, although the residents of Gozo seem to be more polite to the drivers.

    Overall, I thought that the bus service offered decent value for money and the timetabling is clear at stops and on maps. It’s an extensive service and generally pretty frequent, with night services also running. But, they really do need even more buses, as the journeys when the bus is full and banging up and down on potholes isn’t an ideal way to get around.