Buses and Ferries, Bridges and Tunnels . . .

A brief note on some recent Faroese transport history

As the present day airport bus takes its passengers from Vágur to Tórshavn in less than an hour, few will realise that the capital was only linked by road to the rest of the island of Streymoy as late as 1966. The building of bridges and tunnels in the Faroe Islands over the past thirty to forty years has led to a natural expansion of the road and bus networks, but it also has often meant the withdrawal of long standing ferry services.

As befits a mountainous island community with a population scattered in a succession of coastal towns and villages, the traditional means of communication was by boat and ferry, and this lasted until well after the second world war. To travel from island to island, or to reach the capital Tórshavn, you went by sea. And many and varied were the boats that served the islands over the years.

One of the operators was Mjólkaforsýningini (milk producers) whose boat 'Sigmundur', the second of that name, covered the route from the capital north to Eysturoy to Skálafjørður as well as along the east coast of Streymoy to Sundalags from 1950 to 1967. Carrying passengers, mail and goods, the ports of call on the complex route from Tórshavn included Toftir, Skáli, Strendur, Selatrað, Oyri, Streymnes, Køllafjorður and Kaldbak. From 1962 to 1974 'Ternan' also assisted on this route, with the boat's name being changed to ‘Dúgvan’ in 1970. Taxi connections were available at Streymnes to Saksun and Oyri to Eiði.

Ferry routes in the Faroe Islands shown in Gerald Daniel's 1966 map

There were individual stretches of roads on different islands. On Sandoy a road had linked Skopun to Sandur since 1923. But a road network has only come comparatively recently to the Faroe Islands. The main road on Streymoy linking the capital Tórshavn to Signabøur was only completed in July 1966, linking there to a road which had been built from Hvalvik to Vestmanna prior to 1950. Before this a journey to the airport - which had been built by British forces during the second war and where commercial passenger flights had commenced in 1963 by Flugfélag Íslands - on the island of Vágur meant one of two choices. Either a boat trip all the way from Tórshavn to Midvágur, often a stormy ride around the headland Kirkjubønes in winter on the open deck ship 'Vesturleið', or alternatively taking a taxi from Tórshavn some miles northwards to the end of the uphill road constructed in 1959 to serve the NATO radar station at Mjørkadal, then clambering down the hillside with luggage to another taxi waiting at Signabøur on the road from Hósvik and Køllafjorður to Vestmanna. This route was pioneered by the Bil taxi company of Tórshavn who arranged the two hires - but you were on your own for the walk down (or up!) the hill at Hórisgøtu to bridge the gap. This missing link was aptly nicknamed 'Via Dolorosa' by travellers. Once the road was connected throughout from Tórshavn to Vestmanna in the mid-1960s the ferryboat ‘Olavur’ linked Vestmanna to the landing place at Fútaklett on Vágur where another car waited for the run to the airport.

Bil trace their origins back to 1952. They subsequently became a main bus contractor for Bygdaleiðir on the routes from Tórshavn for some twelve years or more, starting in 1980, and including the route to Vestmanna. The Bil company was also the first contractor for the Bussleiðin town buses in Tórshavn when they started running in 1979, continuing until contract changes in 1983.

The seventies were still a period of road building and it is interesting to compare some of the routes and services provided in the mid-1970s with current day practice. The Streymin bridge across Sundini, linking Streymoy to Eysturoy by road for the first time, had just opened on 30th October 1973.  This was often referred to as the Bridge over the Atlantic. Prior to this ferryboats had plied across the waters at Sundini (eg the 'Litlaferja' linked Hvalvik to Oyrarbakki from 1964; that too was operated by Bil). From Hvalvik there was a bus to Saksun and at Oyrarbakki buses connected to Eiði, Funningur and Gjógv.  Once the bridge opened there were then new daily bus services linking Tórshavn directly with these places. The vehicles at the time were privately operated minibuses and midibuses, typically cream and brown Toyotas and Scanias with 20 to 26 seats. These were of course not the first bus services in the Faroe Islands! Amongst the first – or perhaps the first – was the Eysturoy route linking Søldafjørður to Gøtu and Fuglafjørður which started running four days a week in 1925. All this was long before the establishment of the state supported integrated transport system of Strandfaraskip Landsins ferries in April 1976 and Bygdaleiðir buses in May 1980.

 To travel north from Tórshavn to the second city of Klaksvik there were several options in the early 1970s, including a direct ferry once a day between the two towns operated by either the 'Smyril' or the 'Pride'. Alternatively one could take the ferry 'Trondur' from Tórshavn across to Toftir, and then a car or minibus across Eysturoy to Leirvik, followed by another ferry journey on the 'Ternan' to finally reach the northern town of Klaksvik.

Although the road system on Streymoy was largely complete in the mid-1960s there still remained two distinct and separate road systems at either end of the island of Eysturoy. The opening of the 2.5 kilometre long tunnel in August 1976 between Oyrarbakki and Skálabotnur connected these two former halves and led to a significant restructuring of public transport routes, including those linking Streymoy with Eysturoy. For a few years though after the Streymin bridge opened an hourly vehicular ferry, appropriately named 'Sundaferjan', continued to operate across Sundini from Hósvik to Selatrað, but this ceased some time after the opening of the new road tunnel. There were now through buses from Tórshavn across the new bridge and through the new tunnel to the Eysturoy communities, including Runavík and Toftir as well as Leirvik for the Klaksvik ferry. The direct ferry route between Klaksvik and Tórshavn all but ceased and the Tórshavn – Toftir ferry became a peak-hour only operation and then was finally withdrawn altogether (year unconfirmed but between 2002 and 2006).                    

Timetable from the 1974 Faroes Travel Guide, shortly after the opening of the Streymin bridge

On the island of Streymoy, to reach Kaldbak (now part of the enlarged Tórshavn municipality) in 1974, you still travelled on the daily ferryboat 'Sildberin'. Now the journey takes less than thirty minutes on the four or five times a day bus. In the northern islands, to reach Kunoy from Klaksvik meant catching the ferry 'Barskor'. Thanks to a new causeway and a 3 kilometre road tunnel opened in 1998, the journey is now easily accomplished by bus. Change came for the island of Sandoy too in the mid-1990s, with the longish ferry journey from Tórshavn to Skopun replaced by a much shorter crossing from a newly constructed landing place at Gamlaraett (which is served by the buses on the route to Kirkjubøur).

Although the buses have changed in appearance, size and comfort over the years, some of the ferries listed in the 1974 travel guide still ply through Faroese waters, although not always on the same routes now as then. Of the old names like 'Smyril', 'Sam', 'Ritan', 'Barskor' and 'Ternan' some still provide essential links between the islands, and some did so until a few years ago. Not forgetting that some older traditional names have been reused on newer vessels!

Two timetable covers from the 1980s for the bus and ferry network

Now the modern day Faroe Islands have a fully integrated state-owned (and heavily subsidised) transport system with the Strandfaraskip Landsins ferries and the blue country buses of Bygdaleiðir. There are through fares and through tickets, and the buses connect with each other and with the ferries. As the tunnels and bridges expand, so do the public transport opportunities. The 1993 road tunnel, 2.8 kilometres in length between Kaldbaksfjørður and Kollfjarðardalur, has largely replaced the old upland Oyggjarvegur road (by way of Mjørkadal) between Tórshavn and Vestmanna and has considerably shortened the journey time to and from the airport and northern destinations. Another tunnel was built to link Streymoy to the island of Vágur and now through buses run to and from the airport. First proposed in 1989, crossing from Leynar to near the old landing place at Fútaklett, this tunnel was opened in December 2002 and led to the demise of the ferry service between Vestmanna and Oyrargjójv on Vágur. Whilst this was good for both the island and airport travellers it has put Vágur, like Eysturoy, within daily commuting distance of the capital. This was the first tunnel built under the sea in the Faroe Islands, so as the Streymin bridge is known as the bridge over the Atlantic, this will perhaps become known as the tunnel under the Atlantic?

Just under four years later in April 2006 a longer undersea road tunnel named Norðoyatunnilin from Leirvik on Eysturoy to Klaksvik on Borðoy was opened and the previous corresponding ferry service ceased operation, with bus routes extended to operate through from Tórshavn and Fuglafjorður to Klaksvik. This is a toll tunnel, as is the Vágur tunnel, and the bus route through Norðoyatunnilin from Tórshavn is now the busiest of the Bygdaleiðir routes, running up to eleven times a day and carrying some 150,000 passengers a year. Future development plans are understood to include a 12 kilometre tunnel linking Streymoy southwards to Sandoy, whilst a private consortium has proposed a tunnel from Tórshavn north to Toftir, which would considerably reduce the distance by road between the capital and the significant population centres of Runavik and Klaksvik.

So just as there have been many changes in transport provision in the past, there may well be just as many changes still to come in future years. However in the Faroe Islands, as in other countries, public transport operation has to be set in practical and economic context against constantly increasing car use.

With acknowledgement to the research and publications of Mikkjal Helmsdal 1916 - 1996.
This article is still in development and further information, clarification or corrections are welcomed.

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