Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.08.2005, Qupperneq 14

The sun is already high in the sky
as I board the number S2 bus at
Hlemmur, just after 8am. The S2
is one of the new “Express” bus
routes (making it all the more ironic
that the S1, or S-Einn in Icelandic,
means “late”). It begins at the
Hlemmur bus terminal, in the east
of downtown, and makes its way
along major roads to Hótel Nordica
and then Skeifan, loops back along
Miklabraut to Kringlan Shopping
Centre, before beginning a dash
out to the suburbs of Kópavogur,
ending – or beginning – its journey
in the new suburban development
of Vatnsendahvarf, which overlooks
the beautiful Elliðavatn Lake and
Heiðmörk Park.
The S2 is a good example of the
new routes that have been created in
the Strætó bus system. Strætó was
founded in 2001 as a combination
of the transport systems of the seven
municipalities that make up the
greater Reykjavík area. At that time,
the new city-wide bus routes were
more of an amalgamation of the
existing lines, and not very efficient
for commuters, according to Strætó
officials. The new system is therefore
the result of planning that began
four years ago.
The official line from Strætó
is that the new system has been
created after extensive consultations
and with the needs of the public
transport user in mind. The main
objective is to increase usage of
public transport. In a city with car
ownership of roughly 600 per 1000
inhabitants (the European average is
300-400), and a very large inhabited
area, this is a great challenge. “We
are competing with the second or
third car in each home,” says Pétur
Fenger, Assistant Manager at
Strætó. “We say take the bus, and
use the money for the third car to go
abroad once a year.”
It’s the economic argument
that Fenger believes will convince
Icelanders to leave their SUVs at
home. “Icelanders don’t notice air
pollution so much,” he says. And
although Strætó participates in a
European scheme that operates a
small number of hydrogen buses, it’s
not exactly great for the environment
to run huge buses with only two or
three occupants. In fact, according
to Glúmur Jón Björnsson of the
libertarian association Andríki, fuel
consumption per passenger mile on
the bus is much higher than for the
average automobile, since the buses
in Reykjavík are running at a very
low capacity. So apparently the only
way to convince Icelanders to travel
by public transport is to tell them
they can buy more cool stuff with the
money they save from doing so.
Back on the S2, I am expecting
a throng of people to get on during
the first stretch heading from
downtown to Skeifan. After all,
it’s rush-hour and this area has a
number of businesses. But the total
number of passengers for the first
leg of route is five, including myself.
Overall, the riders appear to be
comprised of the perceived audience
for public transport in Reykjavík:
elderly people, the young, tourists
and foreign residents. Strætó has a
long way to go to reach its target of
8% market penetration in the next
20 years (it is currently 4%) when a
huge segment of the population is
missing from its regular users.
Einar Örn Hreinsson, the bus
driver, tells me that this is a normal
number of passengers for this time
of day (the busy time!) He has driven
entire routes with just himself and
Talstöð radio for company. On this
day and time, passengers are mostly
going to work. Everyone I speak
to (and that was virtually all of the
nine passengers who travelled on the
route during the time I was there)
is a regular Strætó user. About half
of them like the new bus system,
while half feel it has increased their
commuting time. Mohammed,
originally from Tunisia, says it was
difficult to understand information
on the system for those who don’t
speak Icelandic. Of the passengers,
only Leifur owns his own car and
still chooses to take the bus.
For a relatively small city, Strætó
operates an extensive and regular
bus system that is clean, friendly,
and cheap (for the user, but not for
the taxpayer). Einar says that taking
the bus can be more relaxing than
driving, and that it is generally safer
in traffic to be on a bus. The tourists
I spoke with were also impressed
with the helpfulness of the drivers
and the ease of transport.
It’s an uphill battle to build a
strong customer base, though. The
old Catch-22 arises: people don’t use
the system because buses don’t run
often or quickly enough to where
they want to go, and this is because
not enough people use it. In the new
Kópavogur neighbourhood where
the S2 travels, the houses haven’t
even been built yet, but the buses are
already there in the hope that, once
the very large detached homes have
been completed, their occupants will
want to economize by taking the 30-
minute bus ride into town instead of
driving their own gas-guzzling jeeps.
As I climb off the S2 back at
Hlemmur, I can’t help but feel
a bit sad that Strætó’s noble and
well-intentioned targets are perhaps
slightly too quixotic for Reykjavíkers
still basking in the glory of having
the highest disposable incomes in
Icelandic history. Will all this change
in two generations when the effects
of pollution are more noticeable?
Will it happen when gasoline prices
increase to such an extent that
people can’t afford that third car?
Or when huge new infrastructure
projects designed to accommodate
more and more vehicles destroy
valuable green space and natural
habitats? Actually, maybe it’s me
who is the idealist.

Cheap Way to Work or a Big Damn Hassle?
The new bus lines. What could be simpler?
“Does this bus go to Bessastaðir?”
“Ha, ha, Óli. That’s a good one!” Gúndi