A NEW tram made by the Bombardier company of Canada has gone on trial service in Bratislava. The city is getting the five-unit tram for free because the manufacturer wants to test how Bratislava residents and visitors view it. Passengers can ride the new tram without a ticket.
Produced by the Vienna branch of Bombardier, and ultimately destined for the city of Alicante in Spain, it was brought to the Slovak capital in April. The new tram started operating on city routes on May 30.
“We want every Bratislavan to be able to try a ride,” said Ľubomír Andrassy, the mayor’s spokesman, to the TASR newswire, adding that the city will collect public feedback. “We will then assess it and decide whether we will announce a tender for new trams,” Andrassy stated.
The fully air-conditioned five-unit tram, called Flexity Outlook, has a capacity of 199 passengers. Bratislava’s public transit company (Dopravný podnik Bratislava, or DPB) earlier tested the vehicle on Bratislava’s tram network.
“On the night of May 15 the tram operated from the Krasňany depot to the terminal station Rača-Komisárky and back – completing all routes on which it is expected to operate with passengers,” Agáta Staneková, DPB’s spokesperson, told TASR. During the night-time test the tram also visited the stop on Kapucínska Street, which is temporarily closed because of ongoing work in the tunnel under Bratislava Castle. The tram had no problem surmounting the biggest gradient in the city’s transport system, the overpass above Staromestská Street.
The newest trams in city’s current fleet date from the 1990s.
