The bus station at Florenc is 75 years old

Prague - The beginnings of the bus station in Prague at Florenc date back to the late 1940s, when domestic road passenger transport began to develop under the auspices of the then Czechoslovak State Railways. Therefore, the railway workers allocated a space for buses that had previously served as a coal depot for the nearby Masaryk Station. The bus station began operations on June 17, 1948.

The equipment of the new station, which was ceremonially opened by the then director of the state railways, was initially very modest. Passengers boarded the bus on one of the 26 lines directly from the sidewalk, as the contemporary press wrote, "individual departures of vehicles were announced by the local radio." A year after its opening, the station, located right in the center of Prague near important train hubs and tram lines, received its own building, which it used for another 60 years. It was not until 2009 that passengers were able to enjoy a modern check-in hall.

Initially, the station at Florenc was just one of many similar places in the capital of Czechoslovakia, but due to heavy traffic, it became the Central Bus Station in 1953, even though its connection, especially with the western outskirts of Prague, was not very good. Florenc still plays the role of an important hub today, although several new stations have emerged on the outskirts of the city. However, they have never replaced Florenc, even though they generally offer comfortable connections to the center via the underground line.

Bus terminals farther from the center of Prague - whether at the train station in Holešovice, at Černý Most, Roztyly, Zličín, Na Knížecí in Smíchov or near the metro station Želivského - now mainly serve suburban transport and intercity lines. Long-distance routes and international buses still predominantly operate at the station at Florenc, which over the years has suffered from the burden of its initial advantage, being located in the center, particularly after 1990 when car traffic increased.

Since the mid-90s, several plans for extensive modernization of the station have emerged, which included connections with the metro, the construction of a new underground check-in hall, or the relocation of the entrance (currently buses enter and exit into a narrow side street), but none of these have ever been realized. The station also waited a long time for improvements to its neglected exterior. Over many decades, it has undergone only one significant reconstruction, which took place at the turn of the 60s and 70s in connection with the construction of the metro and the main road.

The proposed large investments were complicated by unclear property relationships surrounding the buildings and the representatives' visions for the future of Florence. It was not until the autumn of 2008 that the owner of the station began constructing a new hall for 70 million crowns. The modern structure was opened in June 2009, but the original check-in hall in the ground floor of the apartment building continues to operate. In recent years, with the development of transport, the number of connections has also increased, with up to 450 departing from Florence daily. Annually, the station serves around ten million passengers.