Liberec Routes

• 23 June 2014: the line was introduced for the first time under the number 71 (about 3 months after the start of the tram closure, under pressure from the local district).
• 10 September 2014: the line number was changed to 41.
• 15 April 2015: operation of the line ended together with the end of the tram closure.
• 1 October 2021: the line was introduced under the number 44, about 2.5 months after the start of the closure.
• 6 November 2021: operation of the line ended together with the end of the tram closure.

For the driver it is of course a change from the everyday routine, though not everyone welcomes it. The number of parked cars often makes passage difficult, especially for standard-length buses. A lot depends on how the particular shift is set up. In 2021 there were two options. With the short Iveco Stratos vehicle it was a frantic shuttling between this line and lines 59 and 38, whereas shifts operated by standard buses were usually responsible for only a few rounds, where each round takes 6 minutes and the remaining 24 minutes are a break. You can watch one such morning round during the damp autumn of 2021 in the video, driven with an Iveco Urbanway #718. As you can see, not many people use the line. It also often happens that people, out of habit, board at Zelené Údolí thinking the bus goes to the city centre. These people then end up back where they started.

Not much can be written about the local geography of this very short line. The journey begins and ends with a passage through a small valley of an unkempt little woodland park. For a brief moment we have the feeling of being in a forest, but it is only an illusion; soon the space opens up and the first apartment houses appear. Semi-circularly, over a fairly steep hill, we gradually drive around several of them. You can see that they were already built with an emphasis on maximising profit rather than long-term durability. The ravages of time are therefore visible on them, even though their construction took place gradually over several years after 2000 and continues in the area to this day. Their poor quality is reportedly noticeable inside too. The passage is nevertheless a bit more cheerful than through an ordinary estate, because each house is a different colour. We ride briefly along the intercity tram route and then, through the woodland park, return again to the Zelené Údolí loop, where the line 12 services wait.