The Underground
The plan of building the Warsaw underground dates back to the Interwar Period. The construction of the first station started not earlier then in 1983 and the first section was finished in 1995. The second line is in plans and is supposed to be finished by 2013. It will connect both banks of Vistula river.
Warsaw is the only Polish city in which there is the underground. So far only one line operates there, which goes from north to south. The line consists of 21 stations, and the stations on both ends are Kabaty and Mlociny. The underground starts operating at 5 am, and the last run is about midnight. At night (Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday) there are two additional runs between midnight and 2:30am. During the rush hours, the underground leaves every couple of minutes. The time of the next departure is countdown on the electronic notice boards, located at the platforms.
To enter the platform one has to pass the entrance gate equipped with the validating machine. It is necessary to validate the ticket or place the municipal card in front of the validating machine. To access the platforms, one can also use the lifts. They are a facilitation for the elderly people, the people on wheelchairs, the disabled people and people travelling with bikes. There are validating machines located by the lift. Even if one does not intend to take the underground, staying behind the gates may result in fine if one does not possess a valid ticket. By the entrance to the platforms, and on the platforms, there is a list of stations for both directions. The route is also illustrated inside the cars. Each stop is also announced in the car. You can exit the platforms in use of various exits, that is why there are signboards on the platforms that inform about the directions. On the platforms, and partially on the route, the mobile phones are in range, but it tends to get out of range.
Buses
Buses in Warsaw are labelled by a three digit numbers, placed in front and at both sides of the bus. There are two types of buses in the capital city of Poland:
- Daily and night
Daily buses are numbered 100-399 and they run from 4-5am till 11pm or midnight. Night buses are labelled with the letter 'N' and a two digit number and they use different routes than the daily ones. The main centre of transfers is the main railway station which is located in the centre of Warsaw, between the Central Warsaw railway station and the Golden Terrace shopping centre. All the night buses always departure from the bus terminus.
- Daily standard buses (marked 100-399), daily fast buses (400-599) and express buses (marked by the letter 'E' and a number - enable the fast transport between distant districts).
- The replacement buses are marked with the letter 'Z' and a number. They are mainly used when there is a malfunction of trams.
There should be a timetable on each of the bus stops. Unfortunately it happens that they get destroyed or incomplete, nevertheless there is still the information concerning the route number and the stops inside the vehicle. It is placed on the right side, in a shape of a stationary notice board. The new models of buses have an electronic screen that displays the route and announces the next stop ('nastepny przystanek' in Polish).
Some of the buses have an opening button placed by the door (‘przycisk otwierania drzwi’ in Polish). It prevents heat from escaping during the winter time, and to make the air-condition more efficient during the summer. So, if you are standing at the door that does not open, you should push the button. Besides that, some of the stops are the 'request stops' ('na żądanie' in Polish), which means that the driver will not stop there, unless there are some passengers who want to get off the bus there and who had signalled it by pushing the 'request stops' button situated above or by the door (the one that indicates 'stop' or 'request stop'). The timetables of all the buses are to be found on the web site:
www.ztm.waw.pl (section: timetables [‘rozłady jazdy’ in Polish], in the left part of the web).
Two bus lines go to Okęcie airport in Warsaw (to both Terminal 1 and 2), and these are: 175 and 188. The bus 175 stops e.g. by the Central Railway Station. There are self-service machines (also in English and German), where one can buy a ticket in those buses. More information about the ways of getting to Warsaw and travelling across Poland can be found in that section of the Internet portal that is devoted to the rail, bus and the air transport.
Trams
Trams are labelled with one and two digit numbers. In each of the vehicles there is information on the line number, the route and the stops. A stationary notice board or an electronic notice board in case of a newer type of the tram is placed on the right hand side. Most of them have an opening button placed by the door (push it to open the door). It prevents the heat from escaping during the winter time, and to make the air-condition more efficient during the summer.
The timetables of all the trams are available on the website www.ztm.waw.pl (section: timetables [‘rozkłady jazdy’ in Polish], in the left part of the page). You may also encounter the electronic notice boards that inform about the time of arrival of the trams that are placed on selected stops in the city centre (e.g. Aleje Jerozolimskie). However, the system is imperfect and often displays the wrong number of the incoming tram, as well as wrong time of its arrival.
