ROUTE FUNCTION
LIST OF STOPS
Line 29, by its operation, concerns mainly morning drivers, or those on split shifts. As a line serving several schools, it can suffer from occasional surges of schoolchildren and Technical University students. This will be clearly visible in the video of the return journey. It is the only line serving Hrubínova street, which is notable for long bends on a steep gradient, so going up you will probably have the accelerator floored and it still will not move, while going down you have to be careful not to let it pick up too much speed. The line is licensed all the way to Kunratice Mšenská, but the services covering the section beyond Kunratická sídliště change often according to timetable needs. Currently it is the only service in the direction towards the centre. The section is not in the videos; you can watch it, if you like, on line 22.
Both services are run with an Irisbus Citelis #705 on a pleasant spring day. On the way back, its important role for several en-route schools is evident. NOTE — in the direction from the centre, unlike in the video, the stop now used is Šaldovo náměstí on the tracks, not on Jablonecká street. Since then the Klášterní stop has been added towards the centre.
Semester or holiday?
Already while picking up passengers at the Fügnerova terminal it is evident what part of the year it is. If students predominate when boarding, the semester is clearly in full swing. If students do not dominate, it is probably the academic holidays. After extricating ourselves from the fairly airy Fügnerka, we set off along one of Liberec's traffic arteries towards Šaldovo náměstí. Here we share the route with a great many other lines. It is lined mostly with taller apartment houses, but also, for example, with the complex of the former Liberec printing works. As soon as we pass the Liberec chateau by literally centimetres, a large open space opens up with two traffic-light junctions, the Plaza shopping centre, the Hotel Liberec, the Zlatý Lev grand hotel, the majestic savings-bank building and other important buildings. At the upper traffic-light junction, which is none other than the most complicated junction in Liberec, we wait a good few dozen seconds for the green arrow and, past the Hotel Liberec, pull in to the out-of-the-way Šaldovo náměstí stop. This stop is fairly far from the stop of most other lines, which is on a separate street on the tram tracks. Although they have the same name (they did not always, though), the journey between them can take several minutes.
Grand First-Republic villas and the modern TUL buildings
Beyond this stop we pass under the hospital complex, which awaits extensive alterations soon, and we already appear by the first university building. By the Poliklinika stop we discover, for example, the former Sokol hall with the popular pub Depo, or the old villas of notable Liberec citizens. Along the traffic-light junction we pass the interesting shabby building of the textile secondary technical school and continue up a steep hill alongside the hospital complex. On the right we pass the significant building of the Ursuline convent with the polyclinic and the Church of the Sacred Heart of the Lord. Beyond the horizon the scenery changes into a pleasant street lined with grand villas. Beyond the next junction we see the award-winning building of the Husova primary school with extended language teaching, and more villas continue, among which we can in places see all the way to the Liberec dam. On the left we soon reach the technical university campus, as the name of the stop indicates. It is precisely here that we may encounter strong surge demand from students, and it is here too that line 19's support ends, its route turning off from here towards the Jizera Mountains, whereas we descend, together with the 15, through a little wood down behind the dam into the valley of the Harcov brook. Before long, along a straight, we reach the first loop by the university halls-of-residence complex. Only lines 57 and 58 turn around here, however; the others continue. If I spoke of surge demand at the technical university, that is nothing compared to what can happen here during students' morning journeys to lectures, seminars and exams, or during Sunday journeys from the centre to the halls of residence. Often lines 15, 29 and 57 meet here and even that may not be enough. It is precisely here that the occupants of the bus are sorted (or mixed, if we are going to the centre). The students disappear and only the residents of Harcov and the Kunratická estate remain. A large part of them are mainly older people, who use the line's morning and late-morning operation for trips to the polyclinic and the hospital.
Shall we climb Hrubínova?
Shortly after leaving the halls of residence, we turn into Hrubínova street and the character of the landscape suddenly changes. We find ourselves in a little wood and the wide road begins to climb dramatically. The hairpins of Hrubínova street were built to improve the connection between Harcov and the new Kunratická estate. Over one kilometre it overcomes 70 vertical metres, which gives some buses trouble, and it is noticeable in winter too, when there tends to be a little more snow here than down below. The 29 has, since its introduction, been the only daytime line that passes through this three-lane street. From roughly halfway up the hill we already pass the panel blocks of the Kunratická estate. On the opposite side older family-house development briefly appears too. Beyond the horizon, where we stop at the Hrubínova stop, a traffic-light junction soon follows, where we join Kunratická street and the route of line 22.
The faded glory of Luna
Beyond the junction we are still honoured by a petrol station, a shop, a sports centre with minigolf and other service buildings. But then, past a little wood and the adjacent meadow, we have to reach the terminus of most services, located in the heart of the estate. We have reached Luna — a classic socialist service centre that was not missing on any housing estate. Luna's glory is, however, long gone; it is now a dilapidated, unsightly building with a few small shops and services. Whenever I enter that emptied grey cube, a strange chill takes hold of me, and I am always glad when I leave it. As is usual in Liberec, the terminus is rather on the edge of the whole estate, and to some panel blocks one still has to walk a fair way.
To Novoplast only exceptionally
In the case of the 29, no service currently continues further, but towards the centre some start from the Kunratice Mšenská stop, so we will take a look there anyway. The services that continue further have to reach Luna from the opposite side, so they turn off a little earlier, into the street along which all services run to the centre. After unloading passengers at Luna, usually only a few people remain on the bus, if anyone at all. Leaving the estate is sometimes demanding; the traffic density on the main road is high and the entry onto it is accompanied by a fairly steep break, so one has to drive slowly and carefully. We pass garages, the former U Soukupů restaurant, a meadow where people walk their dogs, a substation and a garden centre, next to which there tends to be a giant pile of soil. The roundabout throws us onto road I/14 towards Jablonec, by which we de facto leave Liberec. It is one of the few sections in the Liberec transit network where we can legally take the bus up to its maximum speed. We pass a few small houses, gardens, but also meadows on which there may soon be a new housing estate. The ride ends at the first turn-off to the left, where the Novoplast plant is, which develops plastic products. Apart from a few people from the surrounding houses, this plant forms the only, but surge, passenger frequency on this section.