ROUTE FUNCTION
- 1985: the interval was shortened to 8 minutes.
- 1 September 1996: the line is newly interleaved with line 22 along its entire route, which lengthens its interval.
- 1 September 2004: the line is discontinued and all services pass under line 22. This ends the long era of this line and it disappears from the timetables entirely for 5 years.
- 1 January 2009: a new line with the number 27 was introduced on the route Fügnerova - Nádraží - Průmyslová zóna sever. Initially a trial operation was introduced at a markedly shorter interval than today (30 minutes all day, 20 minutes during shift changes). The timetable was gradually adjusted according to actual demand. The line's route has remained unchanged to this day and it seems already firmly anchored in the transit network. In 2016, for a short time, selected services called at the Ostašov stop.
In its current form, line 27 is a fairly short and clear line, which nevertheless passes through two 'bottlenecks', that is, places where jams frequently occur. These are the junction below the station 'by the viaduct' and the whole area by the Globus shopping centre. During the afternoon peak, large delays can occur at both of these places. At the same time, like other lines, occasional overcrowding of services can often be encountered during the bringing-in and taking-away for work shift changes. At other times, on the contrary, it is rather a less busy line. You can watch the jams at both places especially on the return leg of this round, which I filmed in early spring 2021 with an Irisbus Citelis #704. Note also that on the return leg two buses depart at once; this is the service departing at 14:15.
Past the Babylon to the railway station
From the terminal we set out through the parking house adjoining the OC Fórum, along the one-way Blažkova street and then Náchodská. I remember the time when these streets were used only as a replacement route in case it was not possible to turn from the terminal into the then two-way Dr. Milady Horákové street. Now both streets are used, one there and the other back. A view awaits us of the tall regional-authority building, the little park with a future riverside walk and, behind it, the IQ Landia building visible through the trees. Right after that we appear at the busy junction with Košická street, into which we also turn. It is precisely this junction that causes the long queues leading to the slip road off the through route and sometimes all the way to the railway station. Along Košická, besides the building of a dubious hostel with an unsightly car park, there is the well-known Babylon Culture, Shopping and Social Centre, built from the former Hedva industrial complex. It was certainly better known and unique rather in the 1990s and at the turn of the millennium, however; now its spaces have an aftertaste of faded glory. Even the stop next to the building has been a request stop since 2019. We pass under the city through route, road I/35, and emerge onto a long straight running alongside buildings formerly belonging to the railway station. Today in them we find, for example, a popular café, offices or a post office. Catering establishments are found also at the place where the majestic customs-house building once stood. That is right opposite today's station hall. In front of it we have to overcome a complicated junction with the tram track, which also usually causes congestion at peak. With that we briefly join the tram track-bed.
Through places full of change
Beyond the Nádraží stop we descend Žitavská street down the little hill, where on the left we have the northern throat of the station and on the right the bus station of suburban and long-distance transport. The tram track branches off at the place where the Sofia cinema used to be, and we join the queue at the large double junction called "u viaduktu" (by the viaduct). The whole place underwent an enormous transformation because of the construction of road I/35, for which many houses fell. Today it is probably the second most complicated junction, right after the Šalďák. Long queues often form here too. Although we drive through two junctions, we still remain on Žitavská street. We drive around some garages and, by the stop of the same name, pass a strange brownfield by the Nisa river. It is separated by bushes, but on closer inspection we find the remains of old buildings, among which homeless people and drug addicts have found refuge. The city has big plans for residential construction here. The street then heads uphill past old villas, but also small cube-shaped panel blocks. On the hill we reach the old restaurant Letka, where between 1929 and 1960 the tram route, along which line 2 ran, used to end. Today, however, no one would say so. At the Růžodol I stop the composition of passengers is often sorted out (or mixed, on the way to the centre). It is precisely here that the students and ordinary passengers usually separate from the workers and employees of the shopping zone that awaits us.
The land of roundabouts
Just a little further on we reach the junction called the Snowman after its shape — it is several roundabouts in one. This space too has undergone enormous changes over the last decades. From a tranquil street heading to Stráž nad Nisou with a few houses around, disturbed only by the nearby railway, it became a very busy junction beside the main city through route, and at the same time the entrance to the shopping and industrial zone.
The shopping-industrial zone and Opičák
By the Snowman we pass under road I/35 and right afterwards the railway lines towards Frýdlant and Hrádek nad Nisou, which run here in parallel. The shorter little hill we often climb more slowly than we would like, because queues on the approach to the shopping centre are the order of the day here. Note that the street separates the shopping zone from the village and recreational development in the form of allotments. How calm a place it must have been compared with today. I honestly feel sorry for the remaining allotments, which have, on one side, the railway and road exits from the city, and on the other the largest shopping zone in the city. Soon two more roundabouts await us, with several retail boxes around. Their greyness is broken only by the omnipresent visual smog. Few people notice that by the second roundabout we pass an inconspicuous wood called Opičák (the Monkey), which serves as a strange oasis of original nature in this area. When I visit it, I really have the feeling of being in a wild forest somewhere in the mountains, even though I am within sight of the busy commercial bustle. Beyond Opičák the retail boxes gradually turn into purely industrial ones, but all the more boring for it. Only on the left do a few hectares of meadows and fields still remain, across which you can see the airport and the Ještěd ridge. I think, however, that it is a question of years before these too are built up. The whole route ends at the last roundabout, by which is the terminus with the fitting name Průmyslová zóna sever (Northern Industrial Zone).