Until the end of January, passengers on Prague’s public transport have to count on the fact that the connections will run according to the so-called half-holiday timetables, which will mean longer intervals, especially at peak times. The measure, which the carrier regularly takes at the beginning of the year, is the decline in passenger numbers. The change was announced on Monday by Ropid spokesman Filip Drápal.
“From today (Monday) until the end of January, Prague’s public transport is slightly reduced by about nine percent. Due to the regular drop-in PID usage at the beginning of the year, there has been a slight reduction in the supply of connections, especially during peak periods,” Drápal said.
In the metro, the intervals in the morning and afternoon rush hours of the working day are being extended by ten to 30 seconds. This is the least of the C-lines. Trams’ intervals are longer by one to two minutes from today, but only in the afternoon rush hour.
Buses on the main lines have extended intervals from six to 7.5 minutes in the morning and 7.5 to 10 minutes in the afternoon. The so-called supplementary lines are from 12 to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 to 20 minutes in the afternoon.
Public transport has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 30 percent fewer people using it than usual. If the pandemic improves, public transport will return to normal operations on Monday, January 31, 2022.
According to Drápal, the January restriction is also planned to consider the increased deployment of staff from each carrier in late 2021 due to the number of illnesses and quarantines.
In the past, public transport services have also been restricted early in the year due to driver shortages.
Changes to the names of bus stops and buses on D1
Several suburban routes are also affected by the changes. Bus number 385 is now an express bus and will run on D1 between Opatov and Průhonice.
Between Šeberov and Rozkoší, it will be replaced by the new line number 357. Connections will be added on line 122 to Újezd and reduced on line 363 due to the new express connection.
In the capital, the names of some stops have changed. For example, the Cibulka stop is now called Nádraží Cibulka and the Netušilská stop is now called Blatov-sever.
From Saturday, January 1, 2022, changes are already in force in Kladno, where the new line 565 to Slany has replaced line 609, which runs only in Kladno.
Lines 612 and 620 have returned to the center of Kladno and run again via the Gymnasium and Svobody Square. In Kutná Hora, line 801 has been reassigned to Bernardov.