Transport in Warsaw

The paper is devoted to Warsaw, a city burnt to the ground during World War II and reconstructed from its ruins. This allowed the post‐war designers to change the road network and modernize the system of transport. This modernization, however, has turned out not to be far‐sighted enough: hence the present transport difficulties.

Compared with Western European cities car traffic is less intensive and smoother. The high density of places of work in the central district and of inhabitants in residential districts has resulted in a shortage of parking places. Most people use public transport comprising buses, trams and railways; trolley buses and taxis are less used. Buses are the most frequently used transport within the city; railways play a similar role in the city‐suburban zone connections. The first underground line is under construction.

The immense amount of daily travel is generated mainly by the inappropriate distribution of residences, places of work and services, and secondly by the low fares on public transport, which is subsidized by the state and works more as a social service than as a branch of the economy.