Planning for the European city of Görlitz-Zgorzelec
The cities of Görlitz and Zgorzelec, like few other cities in Europe, represent the European history: until 1945, the cities on both banks of the Neisse river were one municipality, and then the separation after the Second World War and since the political change after the former GDR in 1989 there is again an intensive common development. In 1998, Zgorzelec and Görlitz declared themselves as the European city Görlitz/Zgorzelec and provide an example of how the people of the two nations can overcome national borders.
Regarding public transport, however, the two cities are still largely independent of each other. On 09th September 1991, the cross-border bus line “P” started operation. Additional trains connect the two cities via the Neisse viaduct. In connection with studies on our regional action plan "Planning for railway connection of Liberec Region - Görlitz/Zgorzelec", we have established that bus transport should also be taken into account, to promote public transport as an overall system.
Ideas and concepts for the reorganization of the existing line “P” and for additional cross-border bus services in the city centre of Görlitz and Zgorzelec as well as for the connection of the Polish side with the German recreation area “Berzdorfer See” were now worked out. For presenting the ideas, the conference “Ideas for the future of urban transport in the European city of Görlitz/Zgorzelec” was hold on 12th March 2019 in Görlitz. The parties involved were the cities of Görlitz and Zgorzelec, the bus company Bielawa and the new management of GVB Görlitz.
The next steps now are the Preparation of a test service between Zgorzelec and “Berzdorfer See” during summer 2019. This includes the optimization of the timetable, investigation of attractive family tariff and possibilities of ticket recognition. Furthermore, a working group for the reorganization of the city line “P” is to establish.
