“Whoever is behind the bus, should wait and know that the bus has priority,” he said, wanting to convince citizens to use urban buses. “If you should wait when using buses and cars as well, then why not walk?”

As Prishtina’s neighborhoods grow, so too does the city’s quantity of cars, given the absence of an efficient urban transport alternative. Sejdiu said that he knows that reformed urban transport will alleviate traffic in the capital by ensuring that the bus lines operate regularly and more smoothly. This can lead to citizens using urban traffic more often and cars more rarely.

“The central ring buses will operate continuously within the inner circle of the city. Buses from the suburbs will transport passengers to the central stations and then return to the suburbs, alleviating congestion in the city center. The same ticket will remain valid,” he explained, noting that his plan is partly inspired by that of Sarajevo. Like Prishtina, the Bosnian capital faces challenges with its hilly terrain, making walking or cycling uphill difficult.

The plan also suggests that individuals coming from Veternik should park their cars near the Medical High School and use the city buses with the parking bill. Therefore, employees coming from other cities into Prishtina for work will not need to access the center by car. The governing program suggested that this system, known as Park and Ride, should happen at all the entrances to Prishtina. But this idea is not visible on the horizon.

Fatal accidents

In March 2024, 28-year-old Shkumbin Hebibaj lost his life while waiting at a traffic light near the Ministry of Education. A car lost control and hit the traffic light, which then fell onto the victim’s head.

In the same month, a woman was walking in a pedestrian crossing at Slovenia Sport when a car that had zig-zagged through the traffic almost hit her. The footage flooded the media and social networks.

Architect Ferhat Bejtullahu lost his life on December 3, 2023, when he was hit by a car traveling at high speed while walking.

According to Ahmeti, excessive speeding and disobeying traffic rules are the main reasons for accidents and fatalities. He said that driving in Prishtina these days is not easy. Besides the need to educate drivers, he wonders how there are still no speed radars and security cameras to record traffic violators.

“They have attempted to address this issue by installing speed bumps. There are very few roads without speed bumps, but it is not giving us results. Radars are the solution and I don’t know why they are still waiting to install them. Until now, they’ve tried everything and I really believe that radars are the solution,” he said.

According to Ahmeti, the large traffic jams cause people to lose patience.

The capital of chaos

Prishtina is becoming synonymous with traffic jams.

Some of the penalties foreseen by the amendment of Law No. 08/L-186 for Road Traffic Rules:

Uran Haxha

The capital of chaos

Prishtina is becoming synonymous with traffic jams.

Some of the penalties foreseen by the amendment of Law No. 08/L-186 for Road Traffic Rules:

Uran Haxha