Turist information of the City of Bratislava

Transport in Bratislava is made up of a complex system of all means of transport – by rail, road, air and water. The Slovak capital is a key international transport node in terms of public, freight and passenger transport. The network of thoroughfares has long been founded on a radial-circular system. This arrangement is becoming increasingly important due to the sharp rise in the number of vehicles on the roads. Today Bratislava can without doubt be referred to as a city of automobiles. There are approximately 200,000 cars registered in the city alone, which translates as one car per two Bratislava inhabitants.  

 

Bratislava invests greatly into public transport infrastructure. The city administers all the roads in its territory with the exception of motorways. The largest investment in this area in recent years has to be the construction of the Apollo bridge, which cost more than four billion koruna. Apollo is the fifth bridge in Bratislava to connect the parts of the city divided by the River Danube. More than 270,000 vehicles cross the Apollo bridge in both directions each day. In the middle of the next decade the motorway bypass around Bratislava will be complete, effectively helping resolve the traffic situation in the Slovak capital.  

 

Municipal public transport in Bratislava has been operating since 1895. The city transport company provides this service using a network of buses, trolleybuses and trams. The tramway itself is still only present on the north bank of the Danube, but as part of the new Core transport system, representing the biggest new age investment activity of the city, the tramway network will spread also to the other side of the river, to the largest city borough of Petržalka. Public transport is used by around 60 percent of commuters. The Bratislava transport company DPB conveys more than 250 million passengers a year.

 

Thanks to its excellent position on the River Danube, Bratislava is also an important point on the network of European waterways, especially following the construction of Danube–Maine–Rhine channel. Bratislava has passenger ports and freight docks. Bratislava is also part of the international air traffic system. The value of the M.R. Štefánik Airport has been growing rapidly in recent years. The number of passengers going through the airport has increased by tens of percent y/y, and astoundingly has almost quadrupled in the past three years. According to prognoses, in 2010 some 4.5 million passengers will use Bratislava international airport.

 

The construction of a speedway between Bratislava and Vienna airports is one of the top priority infrastructure projects in the near future. The concept of twin airports would give a new international dimension to the airports in terms of the number of runways. Bratislava is also an important railway hub, with five railroads entering the city. The railway connection between Bratislava and Vienna has greatly grown in importance over recent years. The planned electrification of a five-kilometre strip between the Devínska Nová Ves borough of Bratislava and Marchegg in Austria will further enhance the links between the two cities on the Danube.