A total of 67 bus lines, four tram lines and five tram lines run on the streets of Tallinn almost every day. Added to these are five other night bus lines, to which lines to the center of Viimsi and Vana-Pääskülla were added during the year.
Tallinn Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet told ERR that the city now has a plan to overhaul the entire network of lines. There is no longer any talk of optimizing the connection network, as in the summer, in connection with the new long bus lines.
“The word optimization is wrong, we are talking rather about a new public transport network, a new network of lines,” said Svet.
Svet said that according to the plan the city will first procure external experts who will evaluate the transport authority’s ideas and plans. According to him, in the April-May period the first plans for the reform of the line network could be presented to the public and the local communities involved and debates and presentations could be organised. However, the first changes could be implemented as early as autumn.
Tartu reformed its public transport network in 2019. Svet said the difference with Tartu’s reform is that in Tallinn there are well-established tram and streetcar lines, which will not be changed. However, there are still plans to change the location of bus lines and some bus stops in Tallinn.
Svet estimates that it will probably be necessary to build additional bus stops in the suburbs. However, there is a plan to build additional public transport stops at least at the intersection of Pärnu road and Liivalaia.
“The places where buses start their routes may change, and these changes will inevitably require some reconstruction. It is clear that we do not intend to rebuild the entire city. Probably this year we will change the lines that can be changed without reconstruction,” he said. he.
Tiskre and Astangu and the southern part of the city centre
Svet pointed out that over the last two decades several new settlements with worse public transport connections have appeared in Tallinn, such as Tiskre or Astangu – there are plans to add new bus lines there.
In general, according to Sveti, Tallinn’s public transport network was built on the principle that most lines meet in the city center, but now people’s movement habits have changed.
“Attractive centers have emerged in the city, which over time could start to compete with the city centre, such as Kristiine, Rocca Al Mare or Ülemiste. The Kristiine center and its surroundings are actually more important than the Hobujaama intersection in terms of public transport services,” Svet gave an example.
Svet said there were also big developments in the southern part of the city centre, south of Liivalaia Street, and that there should be more public transport than before.
It is known from the past that after the completion of the Vanasadama tram line, the city is considering building the Liivalaia tram as the next tram line, which would run from Tartu street along Liivalaia street and Suur-Ameerika street to the Kristiine viaduct.
Family: The city lacks the data to successfully develop the network
According to Statistics Estonia, in 2022, 29% of people used public transport to travel from work to home, 49% traveled by car, 13% on foot and 3% by bicycle or motorbike.
Pärtel-Peeter Pere, leader of Tallinn’s largest opposition party, the Reform Party, said that the public transport system in Tallinn is currently unsatisfactory and this is also reflected in the low rate of public transport users.
“The organization of the railway network dates back to the occupation. It is a big problem and its solution is tangible,” Pere said.
Pere explained that rebuilding the route network is largely a digital job, requiring both an improved traffic model and updated mobile data.
“The city currently has mobile data that is about five years old, so we don’t know where people live and where they go to work,” he said.
The family said that, as Tartu did, it would be necessary to purchase mobile data from mobile operators, the cost of which is estimated at up to five million euros. According to him, however, a decent mobility model would cost around half a million euros.
“We have proposed to the opposition Reform Party to make this specific investment in this year’s budget. We will buy, we will order this data, please update this data so that we know. The city government has rejected these proposals, although At the same time they say that all this is absolutely necessary and there are plans to redo the network of lines. How? And the data? They remain very incomprehensible”, said Pere.
Svet: the city has the data to reform the railway network
Tallinn Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet disagrees with Perega. The deputy mayor said the most important thing is to know which public transport line and how many people currently use it.
“We obtain this data from sensors fitted to more than half of the rolling stock and, over time, the entire rolling stock. It is this data that allows us to determine exactly where people are entering and exiting or how full a public transport line is in a certain stop,” said Svet.
Svet said that in addition to sensors, the city also uses validation data, considering that around 45% of passengers validate their ride. At the same time, according to him, the city’s traffic model is completely efficient, considering both mobile positioning data and tax office data.
“Of course, if you believe that, for example, the population structure of the city has changed a lot or new settlements of several tens of thousands have appeared, then you can always order additional data if necessary. At the moment, however, we prefer to see that Tallinn’s traffic model works,” he said.
Family: by eliminating free public transport, a new tram line could be built every year
In the Tallinn city budget this year, almost 124 million euros have been allocated for the management of scheduled transport and public transport infrastructure.
Pärtel-Peeter Pere said that in general the city should use the money available in public transport much more wisely than before. She said the city doesn’t need, for example, a separate real estate office, transportation office and city planning office, and that they could be combined.
The family said free public transport, which currently costs each Tallinn resident around 260 euros a year, should be abolished permanently.
“We will accept free public transport, that is, public transport paid for by every taxpayer in Tallinn. If 124 million euros are spent on public transport next year, 35% of this sum, i.e. 54 million euros, will be lost in terms of ticket revenue, because in In 2012, before free public transport arrived, ticket revenue represented 35% of the budget. The cost of the Old Port tram line was 51 million euros, including funds from the European Union. This means that if the city uses taxpayers’ money more wisely, we would be able to build a new tram line every year,” Pere said.
Svet said that as long as the Center Party is in power in Tallinn, free public transport will not disappear.
“We see that the Reform Party does not believe in free public transport, they are canceling it in the country. At the same time, do we see that there will be more lines in the country with it? We do not see. do we see that there will be more exits in the country? We do not see,” Svet said.
According to Hannes Falten, Tallinn’s director of urban transport, last year people made around 137 million trips on buses, trams and trolleybuses. Currently, the urban transport fleet includes a total of 559 buses, 42 trolleybuses and 66 trams, operated by almost 1,560 drivers. In Tallinn there are a total of 1,095 public transport stops, of which 989 have waiting rooms.
2024-01-08 03:00:00
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