Bucharest’s Public Transport System: A Major Factor in Sustainable Development of The Region

The development of a sustainable mobility system, at the regional level, involves primarily the very existence of a supporting, and efficient passenger transport. The current study aims at ferreting out the role played by the Bucharest’s public transport system, as a suggestive and supportive reference, in the process of sustainable development of the region. While during the last years of the socialist era, in Romania, this mode of transport was not properly supported due to political and economic reasons, from 1990 onward, no major changes occurred due to reasons that are to be presented herein. Within this context, the study aims at revealing the way in which the public transport of passengers evolved/involved, during the contemporary period, in Romania’s largest city, Bucharest.

Using statistical data collected during 1990-2020 period, the study relies on quantitative based comparisons of specific data series, as well as on qualitative measures of the transport system analyses. The findings of the study suggest that the current public transport systems in Bucharest, both ground and underground, has not been sufficiently developed after 1990 and identifies as major causes that led to the current state, the insufficient and inconsistent level of investment, the poor management of some major transport companies, and the lack of coordination between the ground and the underground transport systems. These factors, in fact, not only have discouraged the development of a sustainable transport at the regional level, but also have worsened the quality of air and noise pollution in Bucharest. Moreover, they have led to a chronic congestion of the transport communication networks and exaggerated the development of an unsustainable, unneeded and unsupportive infrastructure (e.g. construction of new car parking) in the city.