Touring Gothenburg

The result of all of this enterprise is one of the easiest to use public transport systems in Europe. Supporting evidence for this was gleaned with a comprehensive tour of the city using both trams and buses. A series of routes and journeys was planned, with the assistance of Anders, to enable both the transport to be tested and the features of the network and interchanges to be experienced. Gothenburg was by no means a familiar city for me having only visited it once before for a mere four hours.

The travelling started on foot, a short distance across the square from Slussplatsen 1 to Nordstaden tram stop. Tram route 2 would take me north, across the river, to Hjalmer Brantingsplatsen.

Hjalmer Brantingsplatsen boasts a medium size shopping complex fed by several bus services and two tram lines. As a result of this it also forms a complex interchange, one of the busiest on the network in fact. The first test of the system was to then find a bus connection to perhaps the busiest interchange of all, and the largest shopping area, at Frölunda Torg. Maps and platform boards were plentiful and easy to understand and soon directed me to my connection point where a coffee break followed the discovery of an eighteen minute wait for the Frölunda Torg bus. Deciding to maintain a high degree of faith in the prediction system I gave myself a couple of minutes to make the connection during which the prediction had been automatically revised by just a minute of real time and the next leg began within 30 seconds of the revised estimate.

Travelling further afield, to Frölunda Torg, I found an interchange for over 14 different bus services plus lines 1 and 7 of the tram system. Prominent & clear signage

Also located here was the largest shopping area in the city, located in the south-west region of Gothenburg. Such a complex interchange would provide a good test of the maps and platform indicators in order to find a connection to my next destination, the short trip to Marklandsgaten. Again, the concourses that formed the sheltered waiting areas were festooned with highly visible display boards, platform identifiers, maps and timetables not to mention the variable message displays. Identifying the platform to get transport, in this case a tram, to Marklandsgaten took a matter of seconds and without the need to refer to the maps I was equipped with. After a short stop to glean photographic material for this report, the departure point for Marklandsgaten was located and the real time information indicated just a short waiting time for a tram north.

Navigating around Gothenburg using an unfamiliar transport system was proving decidedly easy, and continued as such for the rest of my two week visit to the city. The routes and destinations ranged from the large interchanges, with plenty of facilities for the shoppers and travellers with significant waiting times, to smaller network crossovers that still boasted subtle niceties just to enhance the journey in whatever way possible. For example, at Marklandsgaten the crossover from bus to tram is eased by a small road development allowing the stops to be adjacent. Any waiting here can be absorbed with the thoughtful location of newsagents supplying food and drinks along with a plethora of reading material. This included a network wide distributed free newspaper produced on a daily basis and apparently very popular with travellers. Such small and perhaps unnoticeable features are nevertheless very deliberate. Needless to say, seating and shelters are provided for both network users and to house more VMS equipment. Other locations visited included to Angered Centrum, Järntorget, Lilla Bommen, Klippans, Kungstenn, Saltholmen, Vrångö. The routes had been specifically chosen to ensure that all modes of transport were covered including the River älv ferries from Lilla Bommen to Klippans and visits to the islands of Vrångö and Asperö.

With real time arrival information at every stop I decided to rely purely on the prediction system. At the end of several fragmented journeys, spread over several days, not once had the predictions been incorrect. Buses and trams arrived within about 30 seconds of the stated due time, despite the time of day (e.g. morning peak, evening peak or off-peak), and the more I used the system the more I grew confident that the information at my disposal was correct. Any untoward incidents on the network would have been quickly spread around the signs and loudspeakers anyway.

With the buses and trams tested it was time to sample the ferries servicing the tranquil archipelago. Saltholmen is the main port with numerous departures each day traversing several different routes to visit the many islands.

Again, real time information signage clearly indicated the departure bay for my journey, together with the name of the boat, the destination, the route and a clear indication that there was time for more coffee and a walk around the harbour before the journey commenced.

Once on board the vessels, yet more variable message displays exist to keep passengers informed of both the destination and any approaching harbours. These too are supplemented with paper timetable information to help tourists avoid being stranded overnight on the island of Vrångö.