Bratislava’s integrated transport system battling problems

Integrated transport was launched earlier this month, with city and regional connections designed to interlock. However this is often not the case with travellers regularly irritated at having to wait more than half an hour for connections. This was noted in a story by the SME daily on Thursday. The carriers are promising that improvements are coming soon, with new public transport lines to be added in Bratislava. "Where currently both buses and trains go, only one will remain - the more efficient one", Bratislava Integrated Transport (BID) promises on its billboards. Three companies are involved in integrated transport: Public Transport Company Bratislava (DPB), rail carrier Žeľezničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) and regional bus carrier Slovak Lines. These cover buses, trams and trolley buses in Bratislava as well as regional buses and trains. Each of the three companies has their own schedules that ought to be streamlined after the integration to allow for more efficient travel. A webpage was launched to facilitate this, called idsbk.sk at a cost of €7,000, however it redirects the user to the private website of imhd.sk dedicated to Bratislava city public transport. BID wasn't able to comment on how long it will continue to redirect customers to a competitor's website and whether it will come up with its own connection search site.