The all-singing, all-dancing Bucharest sightseeing tour bus

Craig Turp — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:48:02 +0000

With eternal thanks to George Hari Popescu, who wrote about this yesterday on his terrific blog, it now looks as though Bucharest is to get some kind of tourist bus route. The final decision will be taken on Tuesday, but it looks a done deal.

In a nutshell, some kind of hop-on, hop-off bus (probably a double decker, see below) will run from Piata Scanteii to Casa Poporului and back, stopping at all of Bucharest’s worthwhile sights. (It’s a non-stop service then? – Ed). Tickets, valid for one day, will cost 25 lei for adults, half price for children.

The proposed route of the Bucharest tour bus

And there’s the first problem…

We do not want to be cheap (although we are), but 25 lei? That’s almost €7, or five quid. For that money you can buy a one-day travelcard in London (a city not until now famed for its accessibly priced transport).

Reading through the deadly dull as dishwater proposal last night (Romanian bureaucrats are still living in the 1980s when it comes to the language they use), we did discover one real nugget that kind of gives the game away:

If done well...

Somebody called Mircea has noted that the project might succeed, if implemented correctly. The implication of course being that it will be one massive fuck-up all round. Also note the brilliant last comment he makes ‘perhaps I am asking for too much.‘

Alas, experience leads us to agree with Mircea on this one.

Bucharest Life » Bucharest Tour Bus

The all-singing, all-dancing Bucharest sightseeing tour bus