How the Central Bus Station in Krakow works

MAPA took part in the IV Forum of Bus Station Managers held in Krakow. The MAPA delegation not only had time to speak at the forum, but also to walk through the bus station and tell you about its functioning model.

The Krakow Bus Station was built from scratch in 2005. Previously, it was an area where there was a spontaneous parking lot. There were no timetables, no scoreboards, everything was in paper format.

Now it is a huge multi-storey hub that integrates a bus station, a railway station and a shopping gallery. Funds for the construction of the bus station were allocated by the state, but investors also participated in the project, as the hub also includes a shopping center. 

By the way, in Poland, most railway stations are combined with bus stations, and it is common practice to build shopping centers right next to such hubs.

If we talk about who owns the bus station, the state owns approximately 80% of the shares. By the way, Tomasz Kutai, Chief Operating Officer of Małopolskie Dworce Autobusowe S.A. (MDA S.A.), told us about the mechanisms of commercialization of the bus station in Krakow (we will talk about this later). MDA S.A. manages the bus station, cooperates with carriers, provides information services, as well as services for the purchase of travel documents for passengers at the bus stations in Krakow and Nowy Sącz.

Generally speaking, there are different types of ownership of bus stations in Poland: public, private and mixed. An example of a 100% private business is the bus station in Brzeszk, and there are fully state-owned bus stations, for example, in Warsaw.

What else is interesting? By 2030, it is planned to build a hub in the central part of Poland that will connect the railroad, bus station, and airport. According to the opinions shared on the sidelines of the forum, the timeframe is likely to be extended, but such a complex will definitely appear.