ROUTE FUNCTION
LIST OF STOPS
- 1962: on line 12-14, in the morning hours and on Sundays, the interval was shortened from 60 to 30 minutes, and two years later to 20 minutes.
- 1964: the last mention of line 12-14; until 1970 there is only mention of line 12 on the Pavlovice Tesla - Fügnerova - Ruprechtice sídliště route.
- 1970: a reinforcement line X was introduced on the Nám. Bojovníků za mír (today's nám. Dr. E. Beneše) - Rychtářská section until a comprehensive solution for serving Ruprechtice, prepared by the ÚHA of the Liberec Municipal National Committee, was in place. Later that year a new line with the number 14 was created from line X. The peak interval was set at 8 minutes, which, thanks to interleaving with line 12, achieved a combined interval of 4 minutes.
- 1972: the line was extended to a new turning loop near the Vrchlického x Hlávkova junction (then named Ruprechtice, sídliště).
- 1975: the line was extended to a new turning loop by the "hockey stick" building (today's Ruprechtice sídliště).
- 1 January 1996: the line was extended by the Nádraží - Vápenka - Kubelíkova - Plastimat - České mládeže section. On the Fügnerova - Ruprechtice section it is newly supplemented, besides line 25, also by line 20. Along its entire route line 14 becomes a reinforcement line operating only during weekday peaks, later only in the afternoon peak.
- 1 September 1996: the Nádraží - Vápenka - Kubelíkova - Plastimat - České mládeže section did not catch on and was therefore abolished again.
- 1 September 2001: the line was extended by the Fügnerova - Zelené Údolí - Pekárny/Broumovská section. Only a few services a day remain in operation and its further fate remains uncertain. Later, selected services are extended to the Na Pískovně and Pavlovice Letná stops, where they switch to line 12 and continue back to the centre.
- 1 September 2007: in connection with the opening of the Globus shopping centre, the line was extended to Globus and the section to Zelené Údolí was abandoned. The new route is FÜGNEROVA - Ruprechtice sídliště (- Pavlovice Letná - GLOBUS). For now the line runs directly from the Stračí stop (then still Polní) to Globus. The extent of operation is again all-day and all-week.
- 1 April 2008: the routing via Růžodol I and Zelná was adjusted.
- 12 December 2010: the line begins to serve the newly built Polní locality and finally takes on its present form.
- 26 January 2019: as part of a temporary curtailment of operation, the service is heavily reduced and the line is almost wiped out, leaving 2 services at weekends and a few services on weekdays. Later the extent of operation is slowly increased again.
- 2023: after the major closure of post offices, rerouting the line along Vrchlického via the ZŠ Vrchlického stop and tř. Gen. Svobody was considered, but the change ultimately did not happen.
Line 14 is a fairly varied line, with no shortage of more demanding sections. Chief among them is the last section, where you have to enjoy the traffic-light junction in Pavlovice by Kaufland twice during the detour to Polní, and then thread your way via Zelná along Ostašovská street all the way to Globus. Take a look at a weekend run of line 14 with an Iveco Urbanway CNG #538.
A special, not very common variant of line 14 is its linking with line 12, which currently happens early in the morning and once in the afternoon. You can enjoy the afternoon run of this number-switching service in the following video, which captures the typical jams of the beginning peak near Globus and in the centre. These jams cause line 12 services to bunch up frequently, as happened in this case too, when I caught up with the previous service. It was with an Iveco Urbanway #720.
Line 14 is a very specific line — for its wild history, its variety, the regularity of operation and its route. We would struggle to find a line that serves so many supermarkets and shopping centres in Liberec. As for the southern half of Liberec, it actually drives around every single one of them.
Line 14 is not among my favourites. I prefer lines that lead out of the city, somewhere quiet. That, unfortunately, is not the case with the 14. I would actually say it is the line that comes closest to Prague-style operation. Natural scenery threatens here in perhaps just one place; otherwise it is an action-packed line where you have to be constantly on the alert at confusing junctions, crossings, roundabouts and in queues. But even that has its poetry; let us get to it.
From a synagogue by a modern library
Line 14, like many other lines, begins in the centre at the terminal. Next to the terminal is the controversial Fórum shopping centre, which replaced the popular Ještěd department store. The controversy and the popularity, however, have to be related to a specific time. From the Fórum, through the little streets of the city centre past the forgotten Liberec chateau, we reach the second shopping centre at once — the Plaza by the Šaldovo náměstí stop. As a child I still remember a fenced crater with a little pond here, in which there were supposedly fish. It was there for many years, until 2009, when the Plaza shopping centre opened. In essence, no sooner had the hole by Šaldovo náměstí disappeared than it was replaced by a similar hole with a pond in the lower centre, within sight of Fügnerova. After the most complicated junction in Liberec, at Šaldovo náměstí, we come within sight of the Vienna-style Liberec town hall. If we are heading towards the centre, we even stop right next to it and circle the F. X. Šalda Theatre. Heading out of the city, however, we stop at perhaps the most famous Liberec stop, which is at the same time a work of art called the Breakfast of the Giants. Another interesting building in the immediate vicinity of the line is the modern-looking Regional Research Library in Liberec, standing on the site of the old synagogue burned down during Kristallnacht in November 1938. The first buses ran past it from the town hall to Ruprechtice, then still in private hands. The empty space was finally filled in 2001 by the library, linked with a new synagogue. Along Rumjancevova street we pass the cadastral office, one of the technical university buildings and several residential houses, all the way to the area of Tržní náměstí and the swimming pool. The interesting pool building has also served long enough and awaits a major reconstruction, as does the whole area of Tržní náměstí, through which the city ring road should run in the coming years. Right beyond the square awaits a stop by another shopping centre, opposite the Mrtvolky park. Today there is an Albert and a few small shops in it, but locals still use the name Interspar, or just Spar, after the original owner of the building. Beyond the roundabout we finally leave the crowded centre and enter a long section lined with houses, villas and smaller apartment houses. Among them are several well-known pubs; the best known is probably U Jelena, after which one of the stops is named too. The residential character is broken only by the factory of the former Lipa (today Mocca), from which the scent of the well-known sweets can still sometimes be smelled.
The hockey stick and the dog field
Before long the character quickly changes again. We reach the largest and best-known panel building in Liberec, which is called the Hockey Stick after its shape. Unlike a hockey stick, it is bent twice, but originally it was supposedly meant to be bent only once. At each end it has its own stop and it dominates all views of the northern and eastern parts of Liberec. At its end is the Ruprechtice sídliště loop, which, however, we only pass through and continue straight on. In reality no line has ended here for years, because even the 25, which turns around here, continues straight on. There follows a strangely dead straight, where on one side there are several rows of garages and on the other the popular Ruprechtice wood with the dog-training field. The straight ends with a long sweeping bend down a fairly steep hill, lined with small terraced houses and gardens. The bend throws us out onto a bridge over Generála Svobody street, along which lines 13, 24 and 26 run, and right beyond it by the line 12 loop, Pavlovice Letná. From this moment part of the route is shared with that line. A paradox, sometimes confusing for travellers from afar, is the fact that the direction to the centre is the opposite for line 14 than for line 12.
The first shopping centre in Liberec
The lines here pass through a mix of panel blocks and older houses. There is the classic socialist service centre, where once there was probably a Jednota and a few small shops. Today it is mainly a non-stop shop and a few small shops. Right opposite stands the Secondary School of Engineering, Construction and Transport, with an interesting building that at least several of my colleagues from the Liberec transport company passed through. A little further on we pass, on the right, a small sports centre with several pitches, a speedway stadium and the only Liberec campsite, with a poor reputation. On the left first houses, then more panel blocks, behind which Jabloňová Primary School is hidden. At the traffic-light junction, where we traditionally wait a long time for the green, we, unlike the 12, turn right along a long street to the Polní loop. Besides being fairly narrow, this street is, however, the one place where, especially in the mornings and evenings, interesting scenery can be seen. There is an excellent view both of the nearby forests of the Jizera Mountains and, on the other side, towards Ještěd. After the loop we return along the same straight to the traffic-light junction. Beyond the junction we find ourselves on the very first modern retail area in Liberec. We find three supermarkets here, a DIY store and several other shops, for example the well-known hardware store. When someone says they are going to the hardware store, they always mean this one.
Descending the little hill, we reach the bridge over the Nisa river with a view of the equestrian grounds and the Oder–Neisse cycle path. Beyond the bridge follows a roundabout, part of the notorious "snowman". Lucky that we only pass it along the edge; even so it can give us a hard time at peak and create large delays and irregularities in operation. When the situation is very bad, a replacement route "via the horsies" is created, which leads past the mentioned equestrian grounds. Beyond the roundabout comes the area called Růžodol I. Here, long ago, the first tram route in Liberec ended, but today nothing recalls it.
Opičák by the shopping zone
Beyond Růžodol we leave line 12 and turn directly onto the bridge over the busy Liberec through route, next to which there is a "fake double track". That is the parallel run of the railway lines to the Frýdlant region and to Hrádek nad Nisou. In reality it is therefore not a double-track line, but only a parallel run of two lines. Beyond the bridge we pass a football stadium of lesser importance, and right beyond it is one of Liberec's three grammar schools — the F. X. Šalda Grammar School. It is odd that the only direct service is precisely line 14, with its fairly long interval. This causes a peculiar feature of the adjacent Zelná stop. At it, either no one or the entire bus gets off and on. Besides the grammar school, in fact, only a few houses and gardens are within reach. As soon as we pass this district, across a small valley a view opens up of the whole shopping zone, dominated by Globus and OC Géčko. It is to Globus that we have to weave our way through several roundabouts, and here this account also ends. Few people, however, noticed that on the way we passed an inconspicuous wood called Opičák (the Monkey), which serves as a strange oasis of original nature alongside the shopping and industrial zone. I definitely recommend a visit.