Transportation Infrastructure
Public transport in Brno consists of 13 tram lines, 13 trolleybus lines (the largest trolleybus network in the Czech Republic) and almost 40 day and 11 night bus lines. Trams have a long tradition in Brno, they first went to the streets in 1869, it was the first operation of horse-drawn tram in the current Czech Republic. The local public transport system is interconnected with regional public transport into one integrated system called IDS JMK and directly connects also several nearby municipalities with the city. Its main operator is the DPmB company (Brno City Transport Company) which also operates a ferry route serving mainly for recreational purposes at the Brno Dam Lake, and for interested also a tourist minibus providing a brief tour of the city. The city also plans to build a metro system (S-Bahn) because of locally overloaded trams and to lessen the congestion on the surface.
Railway transport first started to operate in the city in 1839 on line Brno–Vienna, this was the first operating railway line in the current Czech Republic. Today's Brno is a railway junction of supranational importance, for passenger traffic there are nine stations and stops. Current main railway station which the central hub of regional train services, used by about 50 000 passengers every day and passed by around 500 trains daily, is currently operating at full capacity. The current main station building is outdated and lack sufficient operating capacity but the construction of the new station has been postponed for several times for various reasons.
Road transport makes Brno an international crossroad of highways. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city, D1 leading to Ostrava and to Prague and D2 leading to Bratislava. Not far from the city limits there is also one expressway R52 leading to Vienna, another expressway R43 which will connect Brno to the northwestern Moravia is planned. The city is gradually building the large city ring road (road I/42), several road tunnels were built (Tunnels Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky and Královopolský) and more tunnels are planned. Also, due to the congestion in private transport the city continues to strive to build more parking ramps including underground ones, but this effort has not always been successful.
Air transport is enabled by two functional airports. One of them is the public international airport Airport Brno. Passenger traffic at this airport has experienced a large increase in recent years, regular flights fly from there to, for example, London, Rome, Milan and other cities, the airport also serves as one of two bases for police helicopters in the Czech Republic. The other local airport is a small domestic airport serving mainly recreational activities such as flying hot air balloons, gliders or aircraft RC models.
Cycling is widespread in Brno also due to lowland nature of the landscape. Existing tracks for cycling and roller skating in 2011 measured in total approximately 38 kilometres (24 mi) and are gradually being expanded. And there is also one long bikeway leading to Vienna, which is one of Brno's sister cities, the track is approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) long. Several hiking trails of the Czech Tourist Club also pass through Brno.
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