Bus Station of Suburban Transport in Bydgoszcz
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BUS STATION OF SUBURBAN TRANSPORT IN BYDGOSZCZ * Market, A few streets – This is the whole city. Everywhere is very close ... Literally two steps. Ryszard Marek Groński 1. INTRODUCTION n Bydgoszcz, as in other Polish cities, the development of public transport falls on the second half of the nineteenth century and is associated with the industrial prosperity of the city, which determined its territorial development. The first means of transport were omnibuses and horse trams, which left for Bydgoszcz in 1888. Along with the construction of the municipal power plant, electric trams started running, which in 1896 began to transport passengers on the routes of Bydgoszcz. Invention of the internal combustion engine led Ito the emergence of a new means of communication - the bus. This type of transport did not require a rigid technical infrastructure, hence its range was wid- er than the existing means of transport.Wheel transport was initially based on trucks converted into buses, bought back from the army after the end of World War I. Such buses served commuter transport from Fordon, Koronowo and Szubin. The city bus appeared in Bydgoszcz only in 19361. It was connected with the necessity to generate an area in the city constituting a transfer point, well com- municated with public urban public transport. The influx of people to the city and its increased mobility associated with locating industry on the outskirts of the city, new residential buildings, as well as accidents of suburban buses led the munici- pality to reserve in the urban structure the area that together with a special de- velopment carried out the functions of the bus station. The first such station in Bydgoszcz was located in 1933 at Kościeleckich Square. The neighborhood of the Old Market Square, the confluence of access roads, connections with tram- way transport were a significant advantage of choosing this location. 37 mgr inż. arch. Patrycja Cetnarowska, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, UTP University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz 1 The plans were also to create a trolleybus communication. The investments were started by Germany in 1943, but it was not completed, and the trolleybuses never went to the city streets. The dynamic development of Bydgoszcz in the mid-twentieth century and the transformation of the spatial structure of the city, the increasing necessity of get- ting to work, the place of study or satisfying living needs, and the limited capacity of the existing station have influenced the deci- sion to organize the facility, which together with the infra- structure will meet the passengers needs at the time. The new bus station was created many years LEGEND after the war by the main road of I – the first location of the transfer stop, Old Port Street (Hermann Franke Strasse), 1920s - Ja- the city, in a large remote area nuary 1931, away from the center, the de- II – location of a temporary stop, NowyRynek velopment of which met the (according to the memories of residents), needs of increasingly mobile 1931 – 1933, residents of the 1970s. The result- III – the first suburban bus station, Kościeleckich ing bus station was efficiently Square, 1933 – 1975, connected with the connections IV – the second bus station PKS, 58 Jagiellońska of public and suburban transport. Street, 1975 - modern times, 1 – the Old Town with the Zamkowa Island and The next bus stations were locat- Młyńska Island in 1346, ed on the east-west axis that 2 – city territory until 1920, coincided with the course of the 3 – areas of the city incorporated in 1920, Brda River and existing outgoing 6 – areas of the city incorporated after 1961. roads from the city, which was consistent with the tendencies of Fig. 1. Bydgoszcz, territorial development in the the territorial development of the years 1920-2017 in comparison with the city at the time. contemporary area of the city, location of interchanges and suburban bus stations The aim of the article is to (source: Bydgoska Chronicle, 2, Towarzy- analyze the functional and spa- stwo Miłośników Miasta Bydgoszcz, Byd- tial impact of subsequent loca- goszcz, 1964-1965, own work) tions of the basic"fill and check-in points of passengers" in the city, which are the interchange stops and bus stations of suburban transport in Byd- goszcz to their immediate urban environment.The article presents the following locations: a transfer stop for suburban transport at Stary Port Street (formerly Her- mann Franke Strasse), a suburban bus station at Kościeleckich Square and 38 a suburban bus station at 58 Jagiellońska Street. The article raises a topic that in the future will require in-depth analysis of architectural and urban planning and planning for all public transport in Bydgoszcz, of which the suburban bus service is an element (Fig. 1). 2. COLLECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND THE PROBLEM OF SUBURBAN BUS STATION LOCATION IN BYDGOSZCZ The history of urban public transport initiated the first tram connections, which enabled the communication integration of the then districts of Bydgoszcz with industrial centers. As previously mentioned, the first horse tram went to the city streets in May 1888, on the route connecting the Railway Station – Wełniany Rynek (Poznańska Street).The tram car with a horse-drawn carriage housed twenty passengers: 10 people with seats and 10 people standing on the front and rear platforms. In July 1896, the appearance of electric trams was the break- through in public transport, they were initially serving two tram lines: line A Rail- way Station – Grunwaldzka Street on Okole estate (extension of the connection from the Wool Market to Grunwaldzka Street in connection with the creation of the narrow-gauge railway Bydgoszcz - Koronowo) and the route of the B-line from Gdańska to Toruńska Street, established in 1899. Including the C-line estab- lished in 1900 connecting the distant districts of Bartodzieje estate and Wilczak estate, tramway routes covering more than 12 kilometers in length 2. The next years were a time of stagnation for the communica- tion system. Only after the end of World War I, in 1921-1925, along with the dynamic territorial ex- pansion of the city associated with the inclusion of further dis- tricts in the area of Bydgoszcz, the further development of ur- LEGEND ban tram communication be- R Old Market Square, city center of Bydgoszcz, I first location of the transfer stop, Old Port gan. Aging rolling stock and Street, 1920s - January 1931, rising ticket prices meant that II location of the temporary stop, Nowy Rynek until the outbreak of World War II, (according to the residents' memories), 1931- only one additional tram route 1933, connecting Gdańska Street and III the first suburban bus station, Kościeleckich Długa Street appeared on the Square, 1933-1975, map of Bydgoszcz. The route of IV the second bus station PKS, Jagiellońska the B line was changed to the Street 58, 1975 modern times. connection of the Bielawki es- Fig. 2. Bydgoszcz, a map showing the location of tate with Toruńska Street, and in subsequent end stops and bus stations of 1937 it was given the name suburban transport (source: Bydgoszcz Bielawki – Strzelnica 3 (Fig. 2.). Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny, Warszawa 1933 r., www.mapywig.org) 39 2 I. Gasler, !959. Urządzenia socjalne i komunalne w okresie przedrozbiorowym i zaborów. [In:] Bydgoszcz. Historia, Kultura, Życie gospodarcze. Wydawnictwo Morskie Gdynia, p. 195. 3 W. Dębicki, 1996. Komunikacja miejska. [In:] Bydgoska gospodarka komunalna. Instytut Wydawniczy Świadectwo Bydgoszcz, pp. 65-68. The twenties of the twentieth century is also the territorial expansion of Bydgoszcz and the development of an inter-city bus network, integrating urban and subur- ban areas. The main transport routes were Fordon, Toruń, Inowrocław, Szubin, Nakło and Koronowo 4. During this period, the first commuter bus stop was estab- lished on the Brda quay at Stary Port Street, which served as a station until the early 1930s. The location of the interchange point in the back of the Main Post Office was conditioned by convenient access to the nearby Old Market Square and a direct connection with the urban tram route that runs through the Old Market Square and the Sulima-Kamiński Bridge. Sharing the development of the bus stop area with the berthing point of the barges near the boulevards pre- vented the safe separation of paved areas intended for the movement of road transport vehicles with coastal areas, which led to accidents involving suburban buses. The first took place on July 31st, 1930, the second on January 25th, 1931, when six people died in connection with unfavorable weather conditions. In both cases, the bus slumped into the river 5 (Fig. 3). Fig. 3. Bydgoszcz, the square at Stary Port Street, reconstruction of the Bydgoszcz-Fordon bus crash of January 26th, 1931. (source: Jlustracja Polska 1931 nr 18 z dnia 18.01.1931r., s. 2) The tragic events from the boulevards on the Brda River and the great inter- est in suburban communication obliged the municipality to create a modern bus station with a complete infrastructure. The Kościeleckich Square in Bydgoszcz was chosen forthe location of the new facility, where the remains of the previous building were located at that time 6. The area adjacent to the Old Market Square, was well connected to the network of city roads and nearby tramway routes, and also met the requirements of the location of suburban bus stations. 40 4 E. Biskup (red.), 2004. Historia Bydgoszczy, tom. II, część druga 1939-1945. Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe Bydgoszcz, p. 423. 5 Z. Raszewski Z., Pamiętnik Gapia. Bydgoszcz, jaką pamiętam z lat 1930-1945. Pomorze Bydgoszcz, p. 145. 6 Czy Bydgoszcz doczeka się dworca autobusowego?, Dziennik Bydgoski nr 205, Byd- goszcz 1930, p.