Prague to Showcase New Public Transport Shelters and Public Lights

New public transport shelters and public lighting are set to be installed on the streets of Prague in November.

On Wednesday, the Councillor for Property, Jan Chabr (TOP 09), presented news related to public lighting.

He also spoke about the prospect of separate advertising showcases which will disappear from the streets as part of the fight against visual smog.

Since 1994, Public transport shelters have been operated by JCDecaux in Prague until June this year, when the municipality refused to extend their contract.

The latest plans for the replacement of public transport roofs should take place within two years and should start in November.

“The first city districts are selected, starting with Prague 13 and Prague 6,” said Chabr. “By the end of the year, about 40 new shelters should be installed.”

Future shelter plans will also see that free-standing advertising spaces will not be a part of the stops. According to Chabr, ads should be gone from the streets by the end of the year in an effort to reduce visual smog.

Next year, a larger part of the renovation should take place- the roofs will be transferred to the administration of DPP, which should compete with the new advertising operator.

However, the media representative of JCDecaux warned that the exchange may be delayed.

“Chabr is obviously too optimistic- as part of the first wave of replacement of urban furniture, about 300 stops were to be replaced at the turn of the year,” they said.

“However, the Technology of the Capital City of Prague company called on us to negotiate an extension of the deadline, because the furniture is not available.”

With about twenty reports a week of graffiti, preparation is also underway in public lighting, with the launch of an anti-graffiti programme.

Further efforts are also continuing in public lighting to reduce the carbon footprint and energy intensity of the network.

In several parks, such as Ladronka, so-called dynamic lighting already works.

Lamps there automatically respond to movement and parks automatically light up when people move there, and when no one is there, the intensity decreases.

“This will apply especially to parks where movement at night is minimal,” said Chabr.  He added that the reliability of public lighting is being improved as well as the lack of playground lighting.