In the video you can see the second morning service, which can be considered a school service as far as the 28. října stop. Its other use is minimal. It is not entirely easy to weave through some junctions in the full traffic of the morning peak.
I originally wondered whether to write a local-geography article at all for a line that has just two services and shares most of its route with other lines. But there is a catch in that "most". Line 36 passes through two sections where no other line runs. Moreover, I would not be surprised if it were abolished in the foreseeable future.
On departure from the Fügnerova terminal we watch the panorama of the tall S-tower and labour-office buildings, and in the background, for example, the regional authority. We are in the lower centre of the city, full of shops, restaurants and the Fórum and Delta department stores, which we have to drive around. Those who remember will recall the old Ještěd department store, which had its die-hard supporters and opponents. As we extricate ourselves from this airy space, we find ourselves in the somewhat darker 8. března street, lined with fairly tall old apartment houses, but also, for example, with the currently-being-reconstructed complex of former printing works. Soon, however, we pass the Liberec little chateau and suddenly find ourselves in another airy space dominated by the Plaza shopping centre and the largest Liberec junction, Šaldovo náměstí. With the bus we split off onto a dedicated road shared with other lines, including tram lines, which directly adjoins the Plaza. After overcoming the Šalďák, we again plunge into a narrow dark street between tall houses that remember much. One of them is the old post office, still the main Liberec post office today. After the run-in past the artistic Breakfast of the Giants stop, we get onto the bridge over Sokolská street.
The bridge takes us into the very heart of Liberec. Beside us we have the beautiful building of the F. X. Šalda Theatre and right next to it the Vienna-style town hall. Let us not forget the Pošta café, the magistrate's office and the Hotel Praha, followed by the Church of St Anthony the Great. As we drive close past it, however, we can hardly notice its grandeur — that only on the way back. The narrow Železná street spits us out onto Sokolské náměstí, where it all began long ago. It was precisely around this square that old Reichenberg arose. So it is no coincidence that on one side it adjoins the oldest standing houses in Liberec — the Wallenstein houses — and on the other the already-mentioned oldest church in Liberec, dating perhaps from 1579. Beyond the square the space briefly narrows again into a narrow street, where it is a problem to pass oncoming cars, and there another landmark already looks down on us — the Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross, the second Liberec one. Just a little beyond it we continue along Valdštejnská street, while the other lines continue into Chrastavská.
We reach a section where nothing else runs regularly, only line 36. It is surprising, because it is a fairly important traffic artery. It is known mainly for the unpleasant right-angle turn into Truhlářská street around the remand prison. Next to the remand prison there is, quite logically, the court — the modern building of the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem, Liberec branch. In the immediate vicinity, however, there are also several primary schools, a secondary school and a youth centre, yet the Keilův vrch area has practically no service except in the morning. While descending towards a complicated traffic junction, we must not overlook the Church of St Mary Magdalene and the former Capuchin monastery. The complex is sadly decaying; hopefully it can be saved in time. Soon, however, after a small roundabout, 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, and long queues and complications often form here.
As soon as we extricate ourselves from the junction, we join the tram track at the place where the Sofia cinema used to stand. That and many other things had to give way to the construction of the through route and the tunnel. We drive around the bus station and already find ourselves in front of the railway one. We leave the tracks again and continue straight on. The departure hall is followed by the former warehouses and ramps of the freight station. Today these spaces are taken up by various shops, but also restaurants and cafés. On the left there is still the busy city through route. Getting onto Doubská street changes little; worth mentioning is only the entrance to the dark "mouse hole" beneath the southern throat of the Liberec station, which shortens the way for pedestrians. The bus would also benefit from shortening its journey through this little tunnel, but it has to go all the way to the next roundabout.
Beyond the roundabout and the underpass beneath the tracks, we suddenly reach a different world — the world of sport. We pass the controversial Liberec arena. An arena that certainly serves the city, but whose financing brought a lot of obscurities and which to this day has a bad political reputation. By the Zimní stadion stop we pass the exit from the "mouse hole" with steep stairs. When we finally turn away from the tracks, which we now have on the right, we drive into one of the oldest Liberec parts, namely Horní Růžodol. It is lined with older apartment houses, among which we come across old pubs, small shops or, for example, former schools. For some time now we have shared the route with line 17. That now serves the sports centre, while line 36 only passes it. It was line 36, however, that originally served the arena first.
Now, however, we pass the sports district only marginally, because from 28. října street we head into Kralická street and, past older villas, descend all the way to the old bakeries and Hanychovská street, dominated by the tram track. Along its track-bed we descend this street, lined mostly with older apartment houses. The long straight street ends with a bend, beyond which a free space with the Viadukt tram loop appears, and the adjacent monument after which it is named. We pass under it and find ourselves again at the complicated junction we have already been at. Once we fight our way through it, the journey back awaits us, past the court, the two oldest churches, the town hall, the theatre, through the new shopping centres, all the way to the Fügnerova terminal stop. But this journey we already know, so this account ends here.
Contributors: Boveraclub (historical records), Liberecká podniková (videos, proofreading), Tomáš Krupička Sr. (local facts) and others.
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