Every year at the beginning of September, a significant increase in the traffic of motor vehicles in the city of Sofia. This leads to so-called “plugs” on certain nodal transport arteries. Traffic management in the capital is carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality through the "Traffic Management and Analysis" Directorate.
This is what the Road Safety Institute recalls.
In a study carried out by IPB experts, it was found that there are significant gaps in traffic management, which are about to turn a chronic problem into a crisis. In 2024, an almost two-fold increase in problem boulevards and streets, as well as a significant increase in travel time, was observed.
The reasons for this are as follows:
- Non-fulfillment of any of the promises of the Mayor of Sofia made in the pre-election dispute about the transport of Sofia;
- Non-admission of public control (during the crisis with “Patriarch Euthymius“ Blvd., a so-called Traffic Monitoring Committee was created, which after the first meeting and invited projects by the IPB was closed) ;
- Lack of a new team of experts to apply modern methods in traffic management with management expertise (no structural and personnel changes have been made in the main directorate “Traffic Management and Analysis”)
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- Lack of transparency in the management of the SO (the promise to create an information system to monitor the activities of the SO administration was not fulfilled)
- Lack of coordination between the CO and “Traffic Police”-SDVR (so far no opinion or assistance requested from the SO to the SDVR)
After numerous conversations between IPB experts and the mayor of Sofia, we can reasonably conclude that the transport system of the capital has been outsourced to the PP “Save Sofia” .
In the last five years, IPB experts have repeatedly discussed transport problems with representatives of the non-governmental organization "Save Sofia", which later became a political party. And then and now their behavior is characterized by aggressiveness, arrogance, refusal to interact with other institutions.
It is obvious that they do not have proven experts and continue to rely on proven experts from the administration of the previous mayor.
How can the state of the transport system in the city of Sofia be improved?
There is an immediate need to review the use of intelligent transport systems. Resetting flexible traffic light mode.
Creation of a new temporary organization on main junction routes by prohibiting left or right turns, as well as hourly use of the bus lanes by all vehicles. Temporary removal of blue and green zone in certain sections. Manual regulation of motor vehicle movement.
All these actions must be carried out jointly with the Traffic Police-SDVR.
In conclusion, we call on Mayor Terziev to personally engage with the transport problems of the capital, because apparently the entire city is hostage to the ambitions of an unconventional group called Save Sofia.