Plzeň will build a bus terminal near the train station, it has a grant of 100 million CZK

Plzeň - Plzeň will build a large bus terminal next to the main train station for about 150 million CZK. It is to be completed within a year. The Ministry for Regional Development has now approved a grant of 100 million crowns. The money for the transfer hub in Šumavská Street will come from the Integrated Regional Operational Program and the state budget, while the city will provide the rest. This was stated by Deputy Mayor Pavel Kotas (ČSSD) at today's council meeting. This is a project of integrated territorial investments for the Plzeň metropolitan area with 310,000 inhabitants.

The bus terminal will speed up transfers between express trains, passenger trains, buses, and public transport connections. "According to the competition conditions, it must be completed by November 2018, two months after the underpasses (bridges in front of the station, being constructed by the Railway Infrastructure Administration during the reconstruction of the Plzeň railway junction) are to be opened,” said Deputy Mayor Petr Náhlík (KDU-ČSL). The city's goal is for as many buses as possible to head to the new terminal starting from the new timetables in mid-December 2018, making transfers to trains and public transport as comfortable as possible. "The terminal will be purely technical, we did not aim for grand architecture. The main landmarks will remain the dome of the main station and the district court 'at Hamburg',” he stated.

The terminal will have ten departure and nine layover stands, a turnaround for trolleybuses, and a second underpass to the railway station platforms. It will also include a turnaround for trolleybuses, allowing routes to Škodovka or the Borská pole industrial zone to turn at the terminal so that passengers do not have to board overcrowded trolleybuses from Doubravka. Additionally, there will be parking and restrooms. The transfer hub will be constructed by Eurovia, which the city will hand over the construction site to next Tuesday.

Buses from Rokycansko, the Plzeň-north district (traveling through Bílá Hora), and some routes from the south of Plzeň will go to the terminal. However, most connections from the south will end at the terminal at náměstí Milady Horákové in Slovany, which is estimated to cost about 20 million crowns. "But connections that run at six, eight, two, and ten in the evening will go all the way to Šumavská, so people can easily get to work,” Náhlík noted.

The area of the Šumavská terminal will be smaller than the central bus station, but because only peak-hour routes will operate there, it should suffice. According to Náhlík, it is primarily intended for public transport ordered by the region. "We expect to allow lines from Student Agency or FlixBus, which are popular with young people. We will permit them to stop there, but we cannot guarantee them parking for buses,” he said. The city is currently looking for suitable locations around the hub for them.

The area, which previously served as coal storage, is owned by Czech Railways. The city will purchase it six months after the terminal's completion. "The construction will not bother anyone, it will mostly be behind the wall,” he stated.