The Tórshavn city bus network (the red buses)
| BUSSLEIÐIN The Tórshavn city bus network (the red buses)
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30th ANNIVERSARY 1979 - 2009 BÝBUSSAR Í 30 ÁR
Tórshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands. By international standards a small capital with a population of some 15,000 people - about a third of the total population of the islands. But it is big enough to have its own network of bus routes, linking the commercial centre with the housing developments on the hills around the town.
The first experimental operation of town services in the Faroese capital was for one day on Saturday 5 August 1978, using two buses. This was followed by the establishment of regular services from June 1979, contracted by the town council to operator p/f Bil. The half-hourly route pattern of operation required three vehicles, these were Volvo B58 chassis with 29 seat VBK bodies.
At that time there was a complicated network of six services, as under:
Monday
- Friday daytime and Saturday morning (half hourly) -
Hoyvik - R C Effersøesgøta - Miđbýur (out and back)
Miđbýur - Marknagilsvegur - Landavegur - Miđbýur (circular)
Miđbýur - Eysturskúli - Miđstađarøkiđ - Ternuryggur (out and back)
Miđbýur - Landavegur - Sjúkrahús - Miđbýur (circular)
Miđbýur - Bursatangi - Miđbýur (circular)
Miđbýur - R C Effersøesgøta - Gundadalur - Varđagøta - Miđbýur
(circular)
Monday - Friday evening, Saturday
afternoon and evening, Sunday all day (hourly, except 4, half hourly) -
Hoyvik - R C Effersøesgøta - Miđbýur (out and back)
Miđbýur - Marknagilsvegur - Landavegur - Miđbýur (circular)
Miđbýur - Eysturskúli - Ternuryggur (out and back)
Miđbýur - Landavegur - Sjúkrahús - Miđbýur (circular)
Miđbýur - Eysturskúli - Miđstađarøkiđ (out and back)
Miđbýur - R C Effersøesgøta - Gundadalur - Varđagøta - Miđbýur
(circular).
Miđbýur
being the town centre location now referred to as Steinatún. Service to
Argir
was added in 1980 and to Hvitanes in 1981. The northern loop joining
Ternuryggur to Hoyvik / Hvitanes was first operated in 1982 as the town grew outwards. Service
reached Norđasta Horn in 1985 (see map below).
From 1983 the buses were provided on behalf of the Kommuna (town council) by four private contractors (Mourits Mouritsen, Arne Berg, Sámal Bláhamar and Gunleif Danielsen). The name Bussleiðin is Faroese for `bus routes'. Country buses in the Faroes are operated by Bygdaleiðir.
| Double issue Ultimate ticket for single journey 10 krone fare (1998) | Picture taken at main transfer point Steinatun in central Tórshavn in 1992 | |
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The four contractors, each with two buses, operated the comprehensive red bus network of three main circular routes. These served all parts of the town from Argir and Norðasta Horn to Hoyvik and Hvitanes, with timed connections between routes at Steinatun in the town centre. (Steinatun is the central point on J Paturssonargøta on the map below). The adult flat fare was 10 krone in 1998. The frequencies and service levels were generous, and the buses ran also hourly to late evening and on Sundays. The vehicle requirement was six buses for the weekday service, and these were provided on a four weekly cycle by the four contractors. The drivers worked a basic five day week of straight six hour shifts, which seems less than onerous when compared to British practice. Some 2,700 passenger journeys were made a day, from Tórshavn's population of 15,000 people.
This is the 1995 route map. Route 4 (Leiđ 4) was then operated separately by the blue Bygdaleiðir country buses on behalf of the Kommuna, and it disappears off the top of the map to run via Kaldbaksbotnur to the village of Kaldbak, a more distant part of the Tórshavn community. This pattern of three half-hourly circular routes plus the Kaldbak service was operated throughout the 1990's.
The Bussleiðin network was enhanced in 2001 by the addition of new routes 5 and 6. Routes 1 to 4 continued unchanged. Route 5 following part of route 4 from the town centre to Kaldbaksbotnur but then proceeding through the road tunnel and along the eastern shore to the township of Kollafjørður, now also part of the enlarged Tórshavn community (and also served along the same roads by Bygdaleiðir trunk route 400 from Tórshavn to Leirvik and Fuglafjørður). Route 6 was a new hourly circular service starting from a previously unserved southern part of Argir called Hamarin, and proceeding through Marknagil, Sundsvegur, Vegurin Langi, Hvitanesvegur and Yviri við Strond to the town centre. It also linked several of the schools and colleges in the town to residential areas.
Further revisions and simplification of the Tórshavn bus
network took place in February 2003. Routes 4 and 5 were
combined to operate as route 4 from Tórshavn to Kaldbak, returning to
Kaldbaksbotnur and then through the road tunnel to Kollafjørður.
Route
6 was discontinued and town routes 1, 2 and 3 reorganised as
under. The routes are somewhat complicated and circular in
nature. Each then operated
half hourly Monday to Friday daytime, hourly in the evenings and hourly
on Saturday and Sunday - but there was no longer an evening service on
Saturday or Sunday. From 1st February 2003 all buses for routes
1, 2 and 3 were provided by Mouritsens Bussar; since January 2001 buses
for routes 4 and 5 were provided by Gundur Johannesen ofKollafjørður.
1. Hamarin - Sjúkrahús - Steinatun - Gundadalur - Undir Brunni - Varðagøta - Sjúkrahús - Marknagil - Bursatangi - Steinatun -
Marknagil - Hamarin
2. Argir - Sjúkrahús - Steinatun - Yviri við Strond - Hvitanes - Inni á Gøtu - Sundsvegur - Steinatun - Sjúkrahús - Argir
3. Norðasta Horn - Landavegur - Steinatun - Sundsvegur - Millum Gilja - Litlagil - Yviri við Strond - Steinatun - Landavegur -
Norðasta Horn
With the 2004 timetable routes 4 and 5 were separated again, at least on Mondays to Fridays, remaining jointly operated as route 4 on Saturdays and Sundays. Route 1 was slightly amended in the middle of its circular peregrinations to serve the SMS shopping centre instead of the short loop to the harbour front at Bursatangi. On a brief visit to Tórshavn in 2006 it was noted that school special services had been extended to include Kirkjubøur and Velbastaður to the west.
The timetable issued in January 2007 showed little change to the operating pattern of the main services and for the first time full details of the school services (skúlaleið 1 to 5) were included in the timetable booklet. From March 2008 the Monday to Friday daytime timetable for routes 1, 2 and 3 has been increased from half-hourly to a 20 minute frequency, and fares were no longer charged permitting free travel for all passengers. This increases the base all-day requirement to nine vehicles for the three main routes, all provided by Mouritsens Bussar. From August 2009 however all the town services have been reduced by the withdrawal of Sunday services and also the cessation of operations at 1400 hours on Saturday.
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