Bus passengers should organize public transport

The future of the city and what it might look like is one of the topics at today's city council meeting. These issues include aspects such as transport and planning. The development of these matters affects many things discussed here, such as reducing the negative effects of heavy car traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. Although the Borgarlína is on the agenda, it will be some time before it becomes a reality. Until then, we need to greatly strengthen public transport, both for those who rely entirely on that system and have reported that it is not efficient and reliable enough, and also for those who would like to use public transport more often but do not see it as a realistic option that can be relied upon to get everywhere they need to go.

4% of all journeys in the capital area are made by bus, and the stated goal of the municipalities is to increase that number to at least 12% no later than 2040. The share of public transport in all journeys, i.e., these 4% in question, has however remained stagnant since 2012. Something is therefore missing from this equation if the goal is to be achieved. The methods used so far have clearly not been working, and I ask then, why don't we fix the system based on what bus passengers, who use the bus every day, have been pointing out? How can we overlook their needs and expectations for the system and what needs to be improved?

Authorities often seem to assume that the Borgarlína is the solution that will automatically solve a major problem, that as soon as it is in place, many more people will suddenly want to use public transport. The arrival of the Borgarlína alone will probably not suddenly lead many people to abandon their cars and start traveling by Borgarlína. I believe that first, people need to know that public transport is a reliable option. For this, the current system needs to be improved. I believe that the reason many people do not use public transport now is that it is very difficult to rely on the current system to get everywhere they need to go, easily and still arrive on time at the right place. We therefore need to build the system based on the experience of those who use the bus every single day. This way we create better public transport, and thus the likelihood of more people wanting to use it increases.

Route network issues have often been presented as a technical problem best designed by academics with degrees in various fields. I am not diminishing that knowledge, but the knowledge of the experts is missing. Here I am talking about the experts who have to rely on the bus every day of the year, or at least every day of the year that services operate, because they have no other option. Their voices are missing from this planning work; if they were allowed to improve everything they encounter, I believe we would get a much better bus system, much better public transport. Why are we overlooking this wellspring of wisdom? I know there is a working group that is working on route network changes based on adaptation to the Borgarlína, and that there is a user representative, but why isn't public transport designed according to user needs? Imagine how reliable the system would be if everything that bus passengers have been pointing out were fixed.

Is it assumed that people who travel by bus don't want to go to a 10 PM cinema on Sunday evenings, should they just go to an 8 PM cinema so they can definitely catch a bus home? Not everyone can afford a taxi home and therefore needs to plan their journeys and social events very carefully, as nothing can go wrong. Why is it assumed that people who use the bus don't need to be anywhere on Sunday mornings? Most buses start running just before or around ten in the morning; what are people supposed to do who need to be somewhere at eight on Sunday mornings? Why do you have to take three buses from Vesturbær to get to Ikea? Why is there no single bus that goes from Árbær to Hafnarfjörður? These are both large transfer stations. Why does it cost 470 krónur to take a single bus trip if you don't have a bus card? Why is it aimed that fare revenues cover up to 40% of Strætó's general operating costs? We are talking about a public service, a service that city residents need; why is the goal for fares to cover such a large part of the operating costs? Why is a transfer ticket not enough for a parent to get all their children to their schools and back home? Why is there no bus that stops outside Hitt Húsið, a youth center that recently moved to Rafstöðvarvegur? Why are there no longer timetables in Kringlan showing when the buses depart from the shopping center? Why is it no longer possible to buy route books with timetables? Not everyone has a phone or internet on their phone or knows how to use a smartphone, and it shouldn't have to be that way; access to information should be available.

Why are we making it so difficult for people? No wonder those who own a car prefer to use it. If it were easier to use public transport, I am sure more people would do so, and that would lead to less pollution and less car traffic. We need to greatly strengthen public transport based on the experience of those who know the issues best.

Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir