Public Transport in Bratislava - History

History

At the end of the 19th century, Bratislava (then Pressburg/Pozsony) was still suffering after losing the status as the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. Now being a provincial city of political and economical mid-importance its development lagged behind its European neighbours. The main means of transport at this time was horse-driven and later steam-powered railways.

In the year 1868, omnibuses appeared in the city, but they could not meet the demands for transport at their chosen routes.

On 23 March 1881 an engineer from Vienna, Nicolaus Markovits, submitted the project documentation for a city horse-driven railway in Bratislava to the directorship of King's Hungarian state railways. Its path was from the Danube riverbank through the city to the Austrian state railway station. It was supposed to be connected to the Bratislava – Trnava wagonway, belonging to the King's Hungarian state railways.

In the 1990s, transport jams became a routine occurrence in Bratislava, affecting public transport vehicles which became stuck at places like Patrónka or Prístavný most. A major contributing factor was the lack of an inner circle, which today consists of parts of motorways D1 and D2 in Bratislava. While its two crucial points, bridges over river Danube, Prístavný most and Lafranconi bridge partially opened in 1983 and 1990 respectively, it was not until 2002 that Prievoz viaduct on motorway D1 opened, the D1 part Viedenská – Prístavný most was finished in 2005 and the Sitina Tunnel finished the ring in 2007.

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