FLASH
Shkruar nga Mero Baze
Public transport is a problem in Albania even without this extraordinary flow of tourism, but with this it becomes gangrene...
In the late evening hours, in a chaotic street of Ksamil, which now looks neither like a city nor a village, but like a giant campsite that has opened every door and turned every sidewalk into a restaurant, a large crowd of foreigners waited at what was thought to be a bus station. They expected to return to Saranda or some point on the way to Saranda. At 22:30 they had been waiting for at least half an hour.
In fact, they waited in vain. There were no more urban buses, but some boys had acted gentile and from time to time begged a van to come pick them up "because there was work".
You can see a similar scene in the streets of Saranda, where there are bus signs. If this situation is moved to Durrës Golem and Kavajë, it is even more dramatic.
Tourism in Albania has never touched such peaks. July's statistics are enough to overturn every figure of every best year, turning Albania into an international destination this year. Dozens of articles in the world's best newspapers about Albania are probably the strongest marketing that has been done to Albania in its entire history.
I know that many Albanians are upset if you tell them that the government, the financial stability of the country and the pace of its development have merit here, but it is better for them to be upset and for Albania to receive the fruits of the millions of tourists who have flocked to it.
But their rush usually hits you at your weakest point. And he found us. It is public transport. Albania has probably the worst public transport network, which suits the daily routine of 12 months and not the drastic change of the country due to tourists.
And there are three serious problems with public transport. It is insufficient with this flow of visitors, it is irregular with schedules and destinations being unpredictable and thirdly it is useless for most beach territories.
Sarandë Ksamil and return with this flow needs dozens of buses, while the destinations from Rinas and Tirana to the main beaches of the country must be calculable with fixed schedules and extended for the season.
Thousands of young exploratory tourists who come to places like ours, see today exhausted on the South coast, and in its most elite areas, such as the riviera from Palasa to Borsh, where no one has any answer if there is a bus, a van, what time it is and even worse how you can get from a house in Palas or Vuno to the coast, where you have the chance to sleep in a 40 euro room and pay a 30 euro taxi for to go to sea.
Experts dealing with tourism say that most of the questions that foreigners ask when they rent a house on Airbnb or Booking have to do with public transport and the access of the house to the sea.
Public transport is a problem in Albania even without this extraordinary flow of tourism, but with this it becomes gangrene. And this is not something that Albanians feel. They are used to this system and make their own decisions by all getting into their cars for every job and when they go to buy bread.
You can see this in most of the beautiful beaches in the country that do not have car access nearby and you see that they are populated only by foreigners, since they are the only ones who are willing to walk to the sea. Albanians do not.
Ndaj dhe nuk e ndjejnë aq shumë mungesën e transportit publik në plazhe. Ai shqiptarë që nuk ka veturë nuk ka as lek për të shkuar në plazh kështu që nuk del nga shtëpia.
Problemi është tek miliona turistët që po vërshojnë në vend.
Nuk kam ndonjë recetë se si mund të zgjidhet tani në mes të skëterrës së këtij fluksi, por bashkitë bregdetare së paku me urgjencë duhet të qindfishojnë pikat e informimit dhe shenjat treguese se si mund të shkohet nga një plazh në tjetrin nga hoteli në plazh nga shtëpitë me qira në plazh etj. Dhe natyrisht tu kërkojnë linjave të licencuara që përveçse të shtojnë mjetet qoftë dhe të marra me qira përkohësisht të shtojnë frekuencat dhe oraret e zgajtura për punë. Nuk do zgjidh gjithçka por do bëjnë diçka.
But above all, they should increase information. Everyone should know if there is hope for a bus to come when you are waiting at the station, or not. And doing this when you are a foreigner in a country like Albania, is even more depressing, while you have decided to come to Albania for fun, precisely because of the crazy free marketing that the world press is doing to us.
In this case, perhaps we all benefit if the government's policies towards public transport change radically. It is the tourism market that dictates it.
Lini një Përgjigje