The move was proposed by Brno-Střed’s council member for transport Jan Mandát (ODS), and would block trams 4 and 9 from náměstí Svobody and the busy shopping district of Masarykova. Photo: CG / Brno Daily.
Brno, Oct 29 (BD) – Brno-Střed’s council member for transport, Jan Mandát, has proposed redirecting trams 4 and 9 to avoid the busy pedestrianized zones of Brno’s historic centre. Currently, tram 4 runs through the area once every five minutes, and tram 9 once every ten minutes. The proposal comes in response to safety concerns for pedestrians, amid increasingly dense traffic in the area, and would be accompanied by stricter regulations for cars, bikes and scooters.
The district is now waiting for a response from the city council and the Brno Transport Company (DPMB). DPMB spokeswoman Hana Tomaštíková confirmed that the company was looking at various options, but could not be more specific at this point. It is unclear how the routes will be redirected; any changes to the routes would likely mean the trams using Husova or Rooseveltova to go around the city, both of which are already very busy with trams. Husova carries seven trams every ten minutes on three different lines.
Mandát’s proposals envisage the routes using Česká, Malinovského náměstí, or the main station, which he argues are sufficiently close to the shops and services in the centre. However, Jasna Flamiková (Green), his predecessor in the portfolio, said that not enough thought has been given to elderly people with limited mobility who need to be able to take trams directly into the centre. A compromise may involve only some of the trams from each route going through the centre, while others go around.
Barring trams from the city centre would not be unprecedented. No trams used the city centre routes between 1999 and 2006, when the tram 4 was reintroduced on a trial basis, becoming a normal route in 2009. Tram 9 joined the route through náměstí Svobody in 2013. Cyclists were permitted to use the pedestrian zone from 2015, and a limited number of cars were allowed from last September, creating denser traffic. According to Mandát, “We want to limit cars first, followed by trams, scooters and bikes.”
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