Most of the public transport stops don't even have timetables, let alone electronic boards to at least know how long they are waiting. Buses are chronically late, and many stops are ruined
Pensioner Rade is 82 years old and lives near the "Boško Buha" market in Niš. Once a week, he goes to the health center, which is not far away, to have his wounds dressed. But Rade is not really able to walk much, so he prefers to wait bus numbers to cross those three stations.
"I usually don't wait at the station for more than ten minutes." I don't know when they are going, I come and wait, he has to come, and I have to go to the health center," he told "Vreme".
In this area, the story goes, somehow, because there are two bus lines. Where one goes, the wait could be longer.
Student Nina (23), who lives on the outskirts, knows this well. He changes two buses to the university.
"My biggest problem is when I need to arrive at a certain time and there is no bus." "I understand that it is late, but we have not been informed anywhere," she says. He has an app on his phone, but it often doesn't work. "I can just sit at the station and wait, sometimes for half an hour."
There are no signs, and there are hardly any stops
Activists from Niš also pointed out the problem of citizens' attitudes and information. One of them, Miloš Bošković, tells "Vreme" that the digital boards, which showed the timetable, existed back in 2012, and as the government changed, they simply disappeared.
"The stops, of which there are about 250, are in a terrible condition. They have different designs, they fall apart and are not maintained, and some are not there at all. That is, citizens wait for the bus there because they know that the station is there," says Bošković.
"It often doesn't even say which lines are there." It's not a problem for us locals, but those from the side don't know. The lines are shown on Google Maps, there is no indication of where the bus is physically located and when it arrives," he adds.
Retro is back in fashion
Bošković and a couple of other activists organized a performance this April, when they set up a white board with a written timetable at a station in Niš. He thereby indicated that, if there are no electronic boards with the inscription when the bus arrives, at least there could be old-fashioned timetables.
Institutions, he says, do not advertise. They probably have no interest and decided to ignore it. The Directorate for Public Transport also ignored the questions of Vremena.
"There was a 'smart city' project, where everything was planned, but little was realized. One of the things were those boards. We had digital boards in several places in the city, they worked and showed when the bus would arrive. However, they were dismantled and are no longer there," explains Bošković.
In addition to the boards that show the timetable, Nišlia also needs a working application, because it happens that users do not have access for several days due to updates.
When it happened this February, the Directorate for Public Transport of the city announced that it was all for the purpose of improving the operation of the application, as well as introducing its new version.
The "NiCard" application was created in 2021 and provides citizens with information about public transport lines. In the application, I can see the exact location of the bus in relation to the current station, it also shows the time of the next arrival of the vehicle for the selected stop.
For now, citizens can be informed about the timetable via Google maps, which show the route and how long it will take for a particular bus to arrive. As in other cities, this does not solve the problem of fellow citizens who do not have an app or smartphone.
More expensive than in Belgrade
Thus, many elderly people from Nishli have to wait. But at least, according to the new decision, they will ride for free from May 5.
"Until now, people over the age of 70 have had the right, which is about 37.000 people." By lowering the age limit to 65, that number increases by about 18.000. Together with elementary school students, high school students, disabled war veterans and other categories, the total number of people who will not pay for transportation is about 100.000," said Mayor Dragana Sotirovska for "Južne vesti".
Current prices for city lines in Niš are twice as expensive as in Belgrade. For the first zone in Niš, it is necessary to allocate 80 dinars, for the second 105, and for the third 120 dinars.
Niš has 14 city lines and 37 suburban lines. It is officially stated that the lines are covered by 168 buses.
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