Why does it take us almost an hour to cross the Branko Bridge on Wednesday afternoons, and twice as much on Fridays? Why are they Buses are crowded and unreliable., and daily movement through Belgrade the ultimate test of patience? While the lines of cars stand still, it is increasingly clear that traffic jams are not the exception but the rule that shapes the everyday life of the capital's citizens.
On these and other topics, academician Dušan Teodorović, city councilor of the Kreni-promeni movement Savo Manojlović, editor of Forbes Serbia, Ivan Radak, representative of the association "Streets for cyclists" Zoran Bukvić and president of the union "Center GSP" and traffic engineer Ivan Banković tried to find out what are the key causes of traffic chaos in the capital. Moderator tribune it was Jovana Đurđić.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMON GOOD
When asked if Belgrade has a traffic policy, academician Dušan Teodorović clearly answered: "No. Period. When you have a one-liter jar and you want to pour five liters of water into it - it cannot fit, it has to overflow." That's how Teodorović explains the current congestion in the city, since Belgrade has about 1,6 million inhabitants and about 700,000 registered cars.
"In the middle of the 19th century, economists studied a phenomenon and called it the 'tragedy of the commons.' system", explains Teodorović.
He sees two solutions. One is the metro, and the other is "travel and needs management".
"We cannot build new streets. We have to change the behavior of drivers. And we have to improve, greatly improve public city transport and the metro. I am an advocate of Belgrade as a city of public city transport, not a car city", says the academic and adds that citizens cannot expect any improvement in traffic as long as the SNS regime is in power.
WAITING FOR THE METRO
Belgraders have been waiting for decades for the metro, and the construction deadlines are being pushed back. It looks like no one will ride it until 2030.
The introduction of the metro would undoubtedly improve public transport, reduce city congestion and pollution. However, it is crucial how this project is implemented today.
"Why don't we have a subway? We don't have a subway because we're building a national stadium. We don't have a subway because we built football stadiums in Leskovac, Zaječar and all the other nonsense that a narcissistic person can think of," continues academician Teodorović.
The editor of Forbes Serbia, Ivan Radak pointed out that the metro plan from 2012 offered a much more rational solution and was closer to the real needs of the capital's residents. At that time, the "light version of the metro" included two routes covering the most frequented parts of the city. The third route used 90 percent of the previous two routes to save money.
It doesn't seem that way today. Routes have been changed. The opinion of the profession is that the data on the movement of citizens is ignored, and that the current network of lines does not make sense. Academician Teodorović adds that there are about 30 methods for designing the network, and none of them have been applied in Belgrade: "There is no methodology, no mathematical model, no computer program. There is no engineering-mathematical proof that this is the best solution."
Additional costs today include digging through the sand in New Belgrade and Zemun.
"It was planned that we would dig tunnels through the old part of the city, and in the new Belgrade we would go on the surface. Our current government came and reversed that. Since it suffers from grandiosity, obviously, all our projects must be somehow megalomaniac, 'high-tech'. They decided that everything should go underground, to dig through New Belgrade as well", explains Ivan Radak.
He concludes that the metro will be useful for Belgrade, but it will also be a symbol of poor project management and excessive spending of money.
CHACILLAND THE ONLY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT STARTED AND COMPLETED
Savo Manojlović, city councilor of the Kreni-promeni movement, advocates the idea that the needs of citizens should be met, but that it is necessary to listen to the profession. He singles out corruption and the lack of professional staff in important positions as key problems.
"In any position in the state, from highly professional positions to lower executive positions, you have the principle of loyalty, not profession," emphasizes Manojlović.
He adds that Belgrade is a city that has developed enormously in recent decades, but that during this government we do not have a single major infrastructure project, which, in addition to being built, brought infrastructural value.
Large projects, such as the metro, are not managed by the city, but by the Republic of Serbia.
"You have the new Prokop railway station where certain construction problems are already visible. You have a new bus station that has been commissioned, but is still not finished. The old bus station and the old railway station are no longer working because of a private project - Belgrade on the Water", he says.
Speaking about infrastructure projects, he says that "the only project started and completed by Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade is the Ćaciland tent settlement". He also points out that Belgrade is approached completely unplanned. One of the culprits, in his opinion, is "investor urbanism".
"The moment when you had some houses, then you suddenly build buildings, means that for a certain street you multiply the number of inhabitants very often times ten, and you multiply the number of cars by three or four", explains Manojlović.
"How was it built before, for example New Belgrade? You see that it was approached - building, greenery, park, kindergarten, school, sufficient number of parking spaces. You can see that calculations were made for how the vehicles will function", says this forum participant.
photo: mrdja / fonet...
"OUR ELITE KNOWS HOW TO INVEST IN CAFES AND REAL ESTATE"
Does the city invest where citizens need it or where there is political interest? Or investors?
Ivan Radak says that it is not difficult to notice that everything citizens need is delayed. According to him, things are done wrong in Belgrade. First we have the development of residential areas, and only then the streets we use to get to them. He cites Savska Street and Belgrade on the Water as examples. We have the next similar situation in Donji Dorćol, where the sale of new apartments has taken off, and the issue of the surrounding infrastructure has not been fully resolved. Speaking about the illogicalities in the city, he also mentions a large number of roundabouts.
"Mihajla Pupina Boulevard, that intersection near Ušće, is a tragic problem for New Belgrade. It is not being solved. I have nothing against roundabouts. I think they can help. But this way, how they are solved - I, here, would ask the Secretariat for Traffic how many people have a traffic diploma", says Radak.
He also takes the example of the roundabout near Fontana, where traffic lights are installed. "When sixty-five comes in, and the traffic light closes it, half the buses remain in the roundabout. Somehow, those solutions are completely, like, strange to me," he adds.
Radak explains that in Serbia we have a problem to solve the old infrastructure, and we are only looking in the direction of new construction. This is how a growth model was created in which the state invests massively in new infrastructure projects, pumping huge amounts of money into them.
"That money, when it comes out, where does it go? Our elite know how to invest in coffee shops and in real estate. And then we have settlements, infinitely large. The paradox is that Belgrade was saved by the fact that many people left it. Otherwise, I think we would be suffocating here now," says the editor of Forbes.
"We are working in the interests of that construction and we are constantly building, building, building. And we don't have, say, production plants and anything else that drives the economy. Unfortunately, our economy is pumped by the construction sector, more or less," says Radak.
Savo Manojlović adds that corruption is one of the reasons why our economy is underdeveloped. "You don't have openness to some innovative things, like the crypto market. You don't have a stock market, which also needs to have a lower level of corruption and better public finances to exist," he says.
"It's unbelievable that you have so much money wasted on civic projects that are meaningless. It's unclear to me how they don't start doing something that would be simply useful, even though it's obvious that they're going to steal there too," concludes the city councilor.
BICYCLE IS A FAILED INVESTMENT IN BELGRADE
Belgraders do not have a developed cycling culture. Zoran Bukvić, representative of the "Streets for Cyclists" association, says that political will is necessary for it to develop. "The city administration would have to, in addition to building the infrastructure and introducing a system of public bicycles, also work on the campaign - to somehow push the citizens to start using this mode of transportation. And no one wants to deal with that. Everyone likes and wants ready-made solutions", says Bukvić.
As a potential danger on the streets of the capital, not only for cyclists but also for pedestrians, he cites fences along the roadway. He sees the cancellation or relocation of pedestrian crossings as a separate problem, and the solution to the constant congestion in the center of Belgrade, according to him, is the rings around the city.
According to the president of the union "GSP Center" and traffic engineer Ivan Banković, the official policy of Belgrade was to force pedestrian paths, bicycles and public transport in the city center. However, everything changed with the arrival of Mayor Aleksandar Šapić.
"Sapić has subordinated absolutely everything to cars, especially in the city center. Fences are not necessarily bad everywhere, but when I see how they are put up in the city center, it is clear to me that they are only for the purpose of not obstructing cars in the first place," Banković believes.
Zoran Bukvić adds that, unlike Belgrade, all European metropolises are trying to preserve peace in the city center, preserve walking and cycling, increase public transport and reduce the use of cars.
"We choose not to save. We choose not to think sustainably. We choose to drive 20-year-old cars instead of a healthier life, instead of less pollution. It's a purely political issue," explains Bukvić.
On the other hand, Ivan Radak says that one of his biggest failed investments was a bicycle.
"You can't ride a bicycle in Vračar. I bought it, went out to Vojislav Ilić, almost died three times within half an hour and returned home. There is no theoretical possibility to ride it there. In the end, I bought a carrier, then I put the bike on the car, then to Novi Belgrade. To me, it's crazy, to spend another hour in transport, to go to Novi Belgrade or Ada so that I can ride it", shares his experience Radak.
Although there are de facto no bicycle paths in the central city area, and people are discouraged from trying to ride a bicycle, a representative of the "Streets for Cyclists" association offers a solution.
"The safest thing is to separate the bicycle lanes, definitely. So that there is a buffer from the roadway. That way people themselves feel the safest. The central city area should have a network. But you don't have a network anywhere, neither in Amsterdam nor in Copenhagen. You don't have a bicycle lane on every street. You have measures like the 'bicycle street', which implies that the cyclist has the right of way, and the car must not overtake him. You have a 'contraflow' for cyclists they can move in the opposite direction, in one-way streets. Then you also have slow-traffic streets. By combining all those factors, you actually get a competitive bicycle network," explains Bukvić.
He adds that a prerequisite for this is the developed awareness of both citizens and officials who regulate traffic. "There must be a traffic culture. When you go to the traffic police here, and when you tell them, well, why don't you enforce it. They - oh, well, you know what would happen if we started punishing everyone now," says Bukvić.
As long as other large infrastructure projects bring more political points, the people of Belgrade will not see many bike paths - the interlocutors agree.
PRIVACY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Ivan Banković points out that a quarter of the budget of the city of Belgrade is allocated to public city transport.
"We in Belgrade have a tycoonization of public transport. To make it easier for people to understand - somewhere around 191 billion dinars is the budget of the city of Belgrade, not including the city's municipalities. Of that, 48 billion goes only to public transport this year. That is a quarter of the budget. Now one would think - well, we will get some new buses, trolleybuses, trams, so let's justify that price. But - no. New vehicles, the ones that are bought, are bought with loans, they are bought through Leasing is not included in these costs," explains Banković.
The question arises as to what that money is spent on. The president of the union "Center GSP" says - about private carriers: "Namely, the City Transport Company of Belgrade, founded by the city of Belgrade and which has existed for almost 140 years, currently has 42 bus lines, while private carriers operate on 141 lines. "As far as trolleybuses are concerned, there is no emotional question here whether to abolish them or not. We have trolleybuses for 70 years. The infrastructure, which you as citizens do not see, is worth over 90 million euros. Are we going to say what 90 million euros is for us? Abolish it, let's go to electric buses. Electric buses are good where we don't have trolleybuses, where we have trolleybuses - buy us new vehicles and it will be a subsystem like a candy bar", says Banković.
He adds that in the last five years we have zero kilometers of new tram lines, zero kilometers of new trolleybus network, and that the BG train has been completely neglected.
All interviewees agreed that the BG train, although connecting important locations in the city, is not as reliable as before. Not only is it rare, but departures are often cancelled.
Banković points out that the consequences, when it comes to public transport, are suffered by all citizens, and adds that the City-Transport Company of Belgrade was the first victim of the current city government.
He says that the largest consortium of private entrepreneurs has submitted a request to the city to increase the price of its services. At the same time, the city of Belgrade has no money to increase the wages of drivers in the GSP. According to his words, since March, drivers have less earnings by about 10.000 dinars than they had a month before.
"When we had a series of protests with students a little over a year ago, I can't tell you how much they encouraged the drivers, foremen, and engineers. They all stood up to defend their company, to defend their plant. What is also very interesting to me, I know that these people have completely different political beliefs. From those who are completely devoted to SNS, to those who are fierce opposition. We united around one thing, and that is to defend the Belgrade City Transport Company", says the president "GSP Center" trade union.
Banković deliberately does not call the new measure of the city authorities free public transport. It is, he says, 100 percent subsidized public transport, not free.
"There is absolutely no analysis, study, data that tells us in support of what we got for that money. Just as there was none when the mayor came out and said that from January 1, public transportation is free," he explains.
CROWDED COSTS
In the city crowds, the nervousness became palpable. Clenched drivers get in and out of their cars. Trumpets, as a sign of collective impatience, echo through the city all day, every day.
"I go to work from Vračar to New Belgrade. I lose two and a half hours there and back every day. It's really crazy," complained Ivan Radak.
"I observe people in cars. They are no longer good for anything when they get out of the car. These are people who are nervous, in a bad mood, they don't want to work. So, it has a negative effect on the general economy," says Radak.
Zoran Bukvić also warns that crowding costs money. "Actually, it's our time. It's those half an hour or an hour where you're going to be late and you won't have time to see your grandchild, you won't make dinner, you won't go to training, you won't have time to do a bunch of things," he says. "When you have a bus that is late, that is overcrowded, that is not a reliable means of transport, you look at the car next to you through that bus window and wonder when you will get into it. You get a vicious circle. The number of passengers in public transport decreases, and the number of cars on the street increases", Bukvić explains the problem in more detail.
In his opinion, one of the important reasons whether people will use public transport lies in its very aesthetics. The appearance of some of the bus stops, the BG train station and its carriages takes us right back to the eighties.
"You have research that confirms this. When you put the correct trains that look ugly and the nice new trains that are late - people said that they are more satisfied with these nice ones even though they are late," says the representative of the "Streets for Bikers" association.
As a way to increase the number of trips by public transport and reduce the number of cars on the street, Bukvić proposes the measure of charging a tax for entering a certain part of the city by car during rush hours.
Ivan Radak points out that we have to work on culture in traffic, without which no measure will make sense. "We are naturally selfish, so it is normal that we are alone in cars. One person at a time. The way we drive, how the streets are blocked off, how people park and that leads to congestion in this city. It is not all about the infrastructure," says the editor of Forbes.
Belgrade is not only suffocating in cars, but also in bad decisions, the interlocutors concluded. Without a shift towards smarter planning, a stronger role of the profession and serious changes in public transport, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, the city will continue to sink into congestion, and the quality of life of citizens will decline.
This was the third forum of the weekly "Vreme" from a series of discussions dedicated to key issues that affect life in Belgrade.
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