2024-05-11 18:44:19
- Two options – to see if the change will not turn out to be good, as called by “Save Sofia”. Or SOS to oblige the mayor to return the old organization
- The parking and traffic case in the area, which has been proposed since 2009 but has been delayed, is now in court
Hot passions under the cold rain in Sofia – for a whole week, the tension surrounding the change of traffic on two central boulevards – “Fritjof Nansen” and “Patriarch Evtimiy” and the section of “Vitoshka” around the garden in front of the National Palace of Culture has not subsided.
Drivers and cyclists, living in the area and people for whom it is a place to walk, party fans and municipal officials of various colors faced each other. The saga began with an attack on a municipal councilor, went through protests, and on Friday echoed on “Moskovska”, where at the meeting of the transport commission, all those involved argued loudly for more than 4 hours.
All this only shows how difficult it is to make even small changes in the capital. And it turned out to be even more difficult for those in authority to motivate them.
On the Easter and St. George’s weekends, a bicycle lane and a bus lane were laid out along “Patriarch Evtimii” Blvd. There is now parallel parking and the car lanes have been reduced from three to two. In the NDK area, the bike lane was removed from the sidewalk, where cyclists and pedestrians hardly shared space, to the roadway. Until now, this was the case in the other section of Vitosha Blvd. (direction South Park). But after the changes, parking became oblique and in reverse, and traffic is in one lane in each direction.
On Blvd. “Fr. Nansen” traffic should become two-way, and the bike lane should also be within the roadway.
The people of the area protest violently that there are now fewer parking spaces and that now more traffic jams are formed.
Over the years, exactly this organization of the movement has been laid down in 9 strategic documents
of the city – in the General Development Plan from 2009, in the program for the development of bicycle transport from 2012-2015, and then in the one for 2016-2019, in the General Plan for the organization of traffic from 2011, the detailed development plan from 2014, in Jan Geel’s “Sofia – a city for people” plan from 2017, in the plan for sustainable urban mobility from 2018, the vision for Sofia from 2020 and in the “Sofia 2021” program .
The world-renowned Danish architect Jan Geel, invited by the metropolitan authorities for ideas, calls for the city to be allowed to breathe – with bicycle and pedestrian accessibility in the center, instead of so many cars.
This is actually the second attempt to introduce the project. On 18.02.2020, the then Deputy Mayor Christian Krastev assigned its creation to “Sofia-project”. Public deliberations follow, but
due to citizens’ disagreement, Mayor Yordanka Fandakova never implemented it
The project is revived on April 9, 2024, when it is approved by the small transport commission – its expert composition. On April 13th, there was already an order for construction and installation works, and on the 26th, the order for the introduction of the new organization was issued. The procedure went through coordination with 9 institutions.
The SOS Transport Committee, which meets on Friday, does not have the authority to stop the project because it is being implemented by order of Mayor Vasil Terziev. I believe the changes are for the good in the long run, he defended.
“No one is deaf, we hear the people about the parking spaces and we are looking for solutions. We are looking for a place to implement
underground parking, we have several locations,
but everything can’t happen at the same time,” Terziev said on Thursday.
However, the councilors from “Sinya Sofia” submitted a report with which the SOS would oblige the mayor to return the old movement. Such a request was also made by the mayor of the “Sredets” district, Traicho Traikov (see below).
Meanwhile, the Administrative Court in Sofia opened a case
on the legality of the changes at the request of the European Center for Transport Policies, headed by Diana Rusinova. According to her, 2 laws were violated – on road traffic and on territorial planning. These people clearly do not have enough competence, they do not understand how the coordination of these projects happens, explained the expert.
Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov also got involved. The project procedure has actually been moving since 2015, he explained. I am “in favor” of such alleys being built, but before that, the municipality should provide the necessary parking lots, mainly for the residents of the central part of the city, he said.
At the Friday commission, it became clear that the PP-DB-SS are alone against everyone for the project. The problem with parking there is not from yesterday and the removal of 50 spaces will not lead to an apocalypse, insisted the Deputy Mayor for Transport Iliyan Pavlov. Previously, there were 3,000 spaces in the blue zone in the area, and only the annual parking tickets for those living in these zones are more, he pointed out.
The problem is exacerbated by the service subscription
for parking and cars from other parts of the city.
All analyzes show that preference should be given to public transport – it transports the most people, the deputy mayor added. Now the six trolley lines have 40 crossings per hour and
trolleys will now move 20% faster than the current 12 km/h
In this way, a quarter of a million BGN per year is saved from mileage.
Otherwise, section #9 is late in 75% of cases, and every fourth trolleybus travels between the “NDK” and “Prague” stops in 4 minutes instead of the planned 2 – how will there be more passengers and revenue if we drive them at 10 km/h in the center, asked councilor Andrei Zografski, citing data from the CGM. And he explained that after the elections, changes to parking in the blue and green zone will be proposed. He called for tolerance and announced that estimates would be made by the new organization to see the effects, if there was no improvement then improvements would be thought about.
Only 2 km of new bicycle lanes connect 6 of the existing ones. It is significant that they are already using it, Pavlov announced. And he was categorical – the city is for everyone.
Repairs are done with framework contracts concluded 4 years ago.
The prices and terms of the project are the same, the deputy mayor also said. According to estimated prices, this will cost BGN 480,000. The opposition explained earlier that it was BGN 1 million.
“You saw that the project is from 2020 and so far it was not implemented due to the dissatisfaction of the citizens. Where is the simulation? Where are the traffic data?”, however, asked Proshko Proshkov from GERB.
The counselor explained that
residents in the area travel 40 minutes to park, spaces are cut by 1/3, and parasitic traffic is increased
You can’t carry a sick person on a bicycle and wait 10 minutes for an ambulance, he said.
Already in 2019, 30 ambulances in Sofia were equipped with special devices with which they can switch traffic lights to green light, however, experts oppose. Thus, they can eliminate the “congestion” factor and open a path to the patient. As cars with a special mode even rich to pass on the pavement. However, “Sinya Sofia” explained that the new pegs prevent the ambulances from moving in the other lanes, and sent the councilors from PP-DB-SS to put pegs on the tomatoes in the village.
Many citizens also came to the meeting and defended the opposing views. Cyclists have threatened to protest if the old situation returns. We cannot continue to pollute Sofia, stop the attacks and show a vision for the city, they appealed. You treat us like second-class Europeans, accused a lady.
The simulations had to happen before the change began, try to enter from “Hristo Belchev” on “Patriarch Evtimii” Blvd., where it is hell, counters Stefka Druchovska, who lives in the area. We are not against bicycle transport, my children also ride bicycles, the fault lies with those who created a dysfunctional project and imposed it criminally, she stated.
The mayor of the region Traicho Traikov asked for a red zone and more parking spaces, then a new organization
To return to the previous organization of traffic along the capital’s “Patriarch Euthymius” and “Fritjof Nansen” boulevards, until relaxed parking conditions for residents are introduced. This is what the mayor of the “Sredets” district, Traicho Traikov, asked the commission.
He proposes that the 105 spaces from the paid parking lot next to the “Vasil Levski” National Stadium become a blue zone. In addition, parking should be two-way along Vitosha Blvd., not just on the eastern side. As well as introducing a red zone in the center with priority for residents. At a later stage, an underground parking lot should be designed in the area of the intersection of “Gurko” Street and “Vasil Levski” Blvd.
This could have happened in the next three months, and I don’t see why it was necessary to do it right now and in this exact way – by hiding information, by submitting misleading information. Without judging the current project, I am asking the current administration to restore the status quo until compensatory measures are adopted. And this time to be used for talks with all parties, called Traikov.
He reminded that a similar attempt to solve the bicycle infrastructure problem was made 4-5 years ago, when almost the same project was presented by Christian Krastev and the mayor Yordanka Fandakova. But the public discussions showed that there are many problems and this stopped its implementation.
Under the new administration, Traikov first got involved – he thought that options were being sought. But it turned out that the project was implemented without discussion and without providing compensatory measures to the directly affected people, he explained.
I lived during communism, when people’s opinion didn’t matter, but there is worse – Bolshevism, when out of 50 people, 30 could decide to hang the other 20. We don’t want Bolshevism. There’s room for everyone and to blend in well, said the regional mayor, who was in office in the previous term as well.
Traikov recalled the donut city phenomenon – the city is a bagel, and the hole is in the center. People left there because their daily life was ruined. I don’t want to be the mayor of the hole, nor would people want to live there, he declared. He also told how, during the visit of the Danish architect Jan Geel to Sofia, someone asked him in which city it was easiest for him to realize his idea, and he pointed to Moscow.
An experiment of “24 hours” how to cross the two boulevards at noon and in the evening rush hour:
A reporter for “24 Chasa” conducted an experiment to see if the change in traffic in the center of Sofia really creates traffic jams and problems, as the opponents claim.
The route was from “Popa” along “Patriarch Euthymius”, then left along “Fritjof Nansen” and through “Bulgaria” to the reformed “Vitoshka”.
At 12 noon, the route was covered in exactly 9 minutes. With a slight delay around French High because of a lady who stopped her big white SUV in the middle of the lane to talk.
Incredibly, on Friday rush hour – 6 pm, the same route took exactly 8 minutes!