Measures cost 18.8 million Euro What do Bonn people think of the new public transport timetable?
Bonn/Region · The timetable changes in Bonn have been implemented for two weeks now. The municipal utilities are drawing a positive balance, but there is also criticism of the changes.
A new timetable for buses and trains has been in place in Bonn and the region for two weeks now. According to information from Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB), experience to date has been "generally good". There was praise, but also criticism of the changes, which have been among the biggest in recent decades. By involving the City of Bonn in the nationwide Lead City pilot project, the federal government is supporting the expansion and improvements of the announced timetable changes in local public transport, which, according to SWB, will cost 18.8 million Euro.
However, there is considerable resistance in the Bad Godesberg districts of Schweinheim and Heiderhof. Due to the division of the bus line 615 into the lines 638 and 639, the buses in the lower Schweinheim only run every 30 minutes instead of every 20 minutes as before, according to a citizens' initiative. An improvement has only been achieved for the upper Schweinheim. According to SWB spokeswoman Veronika John, the municipal utilities are very popular for the time compression in the direction of the Waldkrankenhaus.
As Marc Hoffmann from the press office reported, the city and SWB were looking for a short-term solution for the connection to Schweinheim and the Heiderhof. The municipal utilities did not have enough articulated buses. SWB is considering using the existing buses with larger capacities differently.
An unrepresentative survey by the GA on the timetable change showed that passengers noticed significant delays between Tannenbusch, Endenich, Friesdorf and Robert-Schuman-Platz, as well as on tram line 61 between Auerberg and Dottendorf, whose intervals were increased at the weekend as well as on lines 62, 63 and 66.
Commuters interviewed by city council
Ralf Regendantz from Tannenbusch described to the GA his expensive effort to get to the Roisdorf railway station with the bus line 817 of the Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK) or to reach the regional train via the main railway station on the detour with the tram line 16. "The extension of the routeseems to mean an extension of the delays and cancellations. The RVK explained that it had problems with punctuality because of current construction sites on the Landstraße 182 between Heimerzheim and Brenig as well as in Tannenbusch.
The Stadtwerke and the Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RSVG), which is responsible for the right bank of the Rhine, received positive feedback for the new bus line 540, which runs between Bonn Central Station and Sankt Augustiner Zentrum, as well as for the T883 taxi bus (between Dransdorf and Roisdorf) and the aforementioned 817 (between Tannenbusch and Brenig).
Positive feedback on the express bus to Porz-Wahn
The new S 55 express bus connection between Bonn main station, Niederkassel and Porz-Wahn is apparently being well received. RSVG managing director Volker Otto commented: "We have found that solo buses are not sufficient during peak traffic hours and we use articulated buses". The change between the express bus and line 501, which now connects Siegburg, Troisdorf and Lülsdorf, is problematic.
The investments in the route network from the Lead City project are also intended to improve the connecting routes between the district and city areas of Bonn. The public transport companies point out that timetable changes must always be bedded in. The Bonn administration is accompanying the changeover with a survey of commuters, which will last until 22 September. Hoffmann said that 11,000 citizens had participated in the first few days.
What experience have you had with buses and trains since the timetable change? Write to us at bonn@ga.de .
(Original text: Philipp Königs, Translation: Mareike Graepel)
