June 30, 2019 - Here we are - the last weekend of June, the second official weekend of summer, and already deep into the Split tourist season. 

You might recall that last weekend as we formally welcomed the new season, Split estimated 112,000 travelers from Croatia, around Europe and the world thanks to airplanes, ships, ferries, and catamarans.

And the weekend before that, on June 15th, which officially marks the start of the tourist season, figures revealed that 140,000 passengers would travel through the Split Airport and ferry port that weekend. 

The interest was even so great that extra ferry lines for Supetar on the island Brač were introduced. 

It should come as no surprise then that one day away from July, the figures are only growing bigger. 

Namely, this weekend, 212 aircraft are expected to fly to Split, which will bring 52,000 passengers from more than a hundred world destinations, reports Splitski Dnevnik.

Mate Melvan from Split Airport said that on Saturday, 110 planes would take off and land in Split, bringing 28,000 passengers, and on Sunday, 102 aircraft would transport 24,000 passengers.

From Friday to Sunday, more than 70,000 passengers and more than 13,000 vehicles are expected at the Split Ferry Port, announced Jelena Ivuljić from Jadrolinija.

It was also rumored that 21,500 passengers and 4,058 vehicles passed through the port on Friday and that Saturday’s numbers were somewhat higher, with more than 26,000 passengers and 4,800 vehicles expected, while the number of passengers on Sunday is 22,500 and 4,200 vehicles. 

We also announced back on June 14th that the new terminal at Split Airport was slated to open in “approximately two weeks” as technical checks were underway and they only needed the Croatian Ministry for Construction and Spatial Planning to issue an operating permit. We are still waiting for news about the opening date today. 

Fortunately, the new one-way traffic regulation at the Split Ferry Port seems to be significantly reducing crowds, as you can see in the video posted on Saturday.

To say that summer is well and truly here would be an understatement. 

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June 21st officially marked the start of the summer season, which could certainly be felt in Split thanks to the crowds. 

Namely, an estimated 112,000 travelers from Croatia, around Europe and the world will visit Split this weekend thanks to airplanes, ships, ferries, and catamarans, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on June 22, 2019.

As reported by Mate Melvan from Split Airport, 110 planes with 27,000 passengers took off and landed on Saturday, and on Sunday, 88 aircraft and 20,000 passengers are expected. This means that a total of 47,000 passengers on 198 aircraft are expected at Split Airport during the weekend -and the new terminal hasn't even opened yet.

Passengers from almost every part of the world are traveling through Split Airport, and sometime next week, it will welcome its millionth passengers this year, thanks to the fact that a half a million passengers traveled through the airport in June. As far as percentages are concerned, Split Airport this year, especially in the season, recorded an increase of almost nine percent, Melvan confirmed.

Jelena Ivuljić from Jadrolinija said that from Friday to Sunday, around 65,000 passengers and about 12,000 vehicles would travel through the Split Ferry Port. The most significant interest among travelers is Brač and Hvar.

“We have 12 regular lines for Brač, though on Friday we added one extra line and on Saturday two extra lines. We are learning from our experience so far, and on Sunday, we will have two extra lines. Apart from Brač, there is also pressure going to the island of Hvar, the Split-Starigrad line, as well as the catamaran line towards the town of Hvar,” Ivuljić said.

The crowds should only grow larger as we move into July and August, though there is one reason we can let out a sigh of relief - the new traffic regulation at the Split Ferry Port seems to be more effective than last year, reports Dalmacija Danas.

Recall, on June 17, the new one-way traffic regulation was kicked into gear at the Split Ferry Port. Unlike last year, when we could see no significant difference before and after the traffic regulation was implemented, this year, it seems to be mostly running without major problems. The first summer weekend brought a significant increase in traffic through the city harbor, but the crowds were minimal on the roads, if not non-existent at times. As expected, the problem arises at the Bačvice bridge, where all the traffic flows, though no crowds have been recorded through Zvonimirova or the ferry port.

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The new traffic regulation at the Split Ferry Port came into effect at 4 am on Tuesday morning, reports Splitski Dnevnik on June 18, 2019.

The biggest announcement is an entirely one-way Zvonimirova Street, completely one-way traffic through the City Port, with no turn to Zagrebačka Street from the direction of the Port. 

Thus, Zvonimirova street, just like last year, will be one-way, and four lanes will continue toward the city harbor. However, exiting the port will take place in only one direction, via the Bačvice bridge. The lanes at the bus station are now turned the opposite direction, considering all buses will travel to Jadranska Street.

Furthermore, there will be a big bus stop at Gat Svetog Duje instead of the current roundabout and four new disabled parking places, and a new bus stop at Bijankinijeva Street. The flow of traffic will also change below the Koteks skyscraper. You can watch the video detailing it all below. 

The traffic lights at the intersection of Zvonimirova and Zagrebačka Street next to the Bishop’s Palace are being programmed for the new traffic regulation and will provide a better flow of pedestrians at this intersection with a better flow of vehicles. It is important to note the changes in traffic flow in the lower part of Tolstojeva Street, where it is no longer possible to enter Tolstojeva Street from Zagrebačka, but only from Zagrebačka to Tolstojeva to the intersection with Ul. kneza Višeslava and further to Držićeva. The traffic flow has also changed at Ul. Sv. Petra Starog where vehicles can travel from the intersection next to the police station one-way to the Bishop's Palace.

With this solution, the Split Ferry Port is more open to public transport and has joined forces with Promet to coordinate their lines with a new timetable. Promet buses will be adapted to the new traffic regulations and will increase their number of operations from the Port from 160 to 509.

The project was carried out by a number of experts including Trivium and the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy Split, according to the joint request of the City of Split, Croatian Roads and the Port Authority, to achieve a better flow of vehicles and thus solve the problems of congestion at the Ferry Port in the summer months.

"The traffic analyzes of this project have shown an enormous capacity with the new solution and with its implementation, we do not expect any significant traffic approaching the City Port. The City of Split, in cooperation with the relevant Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the state-owned companies (Croatian Roads, Croatian Railways and the Port of Split), operates a one-way traffic regulation in the center of the city and strengthens public transport, and especially the railways,” said deputy mayor of Split Nino Vela and added:

"We have introduced one-way traffic flow through Zvonimirova Street and the City Port, which improves the flow by more than two times, and introduces three times as many public bus lines through the City Port, which will increase the number of passengers in the City Port by three times (from the current 15,000 to 45 000). We also include the metro as public transport on the line from the City Port to Kopilica, which runs every 20 minutes for the fastest and most comfortable entry and exit of passengers to the City Port.“

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After the weird weather in May dimmed our hopes of summer making it to Split this year at all, we can officially say that the sun is out, we’re sweating, and summer is here. And boy, is it busy. 

June 15th officially marks the start to the season, and it was welcomed in Croatia this year no differently than most others - with crowds. Recall, the Croatian Tourist Board flocked to the busiest border crossings in Croatia on Saturday to distribute 50,000 water bottles to tourists, as a “welcome to Croatia” gesture. Though 50,000 water bottles barely made a dent.

Back on the coast, the tourist season is heating up, too, and the figures revealed that 140,000 passengers would travel through the Split airport and ferry port this weekend, reports Splitski Dnevnik on June 15, 2019. 

Namely, this weekend, a total of 184 aircraft will take off and land at Split Airport, which translates into 45,000 passengers.

Mate Melvan of the Split Airport told Hina that only 104 aircraft with 25,000 passengers in both directions were announced on Saturday, while 80 aircraft and 20,000 passengers are expected on Sunday.

"In the first five months of this year, 588,012 passengers passed through our airport, which is an increase of eight percent over the same period last year," Melvan said.

But traffic is no less impressive at the Split ferry port, where 95,000 passengers and more than 7,000 vehicles will travel from Friday to Sunday. The interest for travel is so great, that on Saturday they introduced an extra line for Supetar on the island Brač.

“There are still no ‘big’ crowds and all of our lines have sailed on schedule since Friday; this is usual for this time of the year,” said Jelena Ivuljić of Jadrolinija.

Recall, the new one-way traffic regulation will be implemented at the ferry port from Monday, June 17, and the new city 'metro' from Kopilica to the ferry port is in full swing. 

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By looking at the ongoing construction at the Split ferry port, it is clear to see why the new traffic regulation through this part of the city has been delayed. 

Namely, the planned start of one-way traffic through Zvonimirova Street, the City Port, and Bačvice will not start next Monday, June 10th, but a week after, on the night of June 17th to June 18th, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on June 8, 2019. 

The culprit is the bad weather in May, causing the postponement of the construction work that was supposed to be completed by the end of last month.

The biggest effort is to redefine the roundabouts in the port at the large bus stop, where two articulated Promet buses could stop at the same time. And since it's pretty clear by the looks of it today that the works cannot be completed by Monday, June 10, when the start of the new traffic regulation was planned, they decided to wait for the completion of the school year, but to complete the works before the Corpus Christi holiday. “Croatian roads" are responsible for this part of the work.

Taking into account the dynamics of the work carried out, the current state of the traffic load, the date of the end of the school year, and given the change of public transport lines,the forthcoming state holidays of Corpus Christi, Anti-Fascist Struggle Day and the Statehood Day, at the agreement of the City of Split, the “Port Authority" and “Croatian Roads", it was concluded that the most convenient day to introduce the new traffic regulation is June 17th, said Tamara Pajić, spokeswoman for Croatian Roads. 

The Port Authority has made a minor reorganization in its area, and on the access roads, Zagrebačka Street and at the crossing of the Domovinskog rata and Vukovarska Street, the City of Split has improved signaling so that those going to the port have a clear direction.

You can see how the new one-way traffic regulation will look here. 

Deputy mayor Nino Vela has repeatedly stressed that turning traffic one-way is a "recipe" that is challenged in a large number of European cities, and the new traffic solution strengthens the bus lines and metro being put into function as part of public transport.

“By reorganizing the bus lines, three times as many passengers will be able to come to the harbor with the bus, so instead of the current 15,000, 45,000 passengers will be transported, which strengthens public transport while reducing the need for passenger cars in the harbor,” Vela said.

To further establish better traffic flow in the city center, the City announced that the metro would begin driving on Tuesday, June 11, at 10 am. The new metro will depart every 20 minutes from the main Railway Station in Kopilica to the port and back. The City of Split has said that works are ongoing on this part of the project and guarantees everything will be ready by Tuesday when the first metro departs for the port.

The train journey will last four minutes, and a single travel ticket for the city metro and city bus will be introduced at a price of 11 kn, which can be used by the passenger within one hour on the Kopilica-Ferry Port route and vice versa, and in all "Promet" buses in the first zone.

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Another day, another delay in the ‘Beautiful Croatia’, and this time in Split where we eagerly await the start of new traffic regulations in the city center. 

Dalmatinski Portal reports that the new traffic regulations at the Split city port will not start this Saturday, June 1, as it was announced one month ago. Instead, the new traffic regulations are planned to begin in the “first half of June”, as poor weather conditions in May has significantly disturbed the work on the field, said the City of Split. 

Croatian Roads, the City of Split and the Split Port Authority are leading the project.

The City of Split released the following statement:

“It is known that the leaders of the project are Croatian Roads, the City of Split and the Split Port Authority. City offices and subcontractors are doing their part of the job on a day-to-day basis. Due to really unexpected and unusual weather conditions, we understand the delay of Croatian Roads in realizing their part of the deal, but we hope that they will now increase the pace of work and engage more workers and machines and perform their duties in the next ten days.

The public will be notified about the exact terms of the change in traffic regulations in due course,” they said.

Recall, the new traffic regulations will be implemented to ease congestion in the center. 

Namely, the biggest announcement is an entirely one-way Zvonimirova Street, completely one-way traffic through the City Harbor, with no turn to Zagrebačka Street from the direction of the Port. 

Thus, Zvonimirova street, just like last year, will be one-way, and four lanes will continue toward the city harbor. However, exiting the port will take place in only one direction, via the Bačvice bridge. The lanes at the bus station will turn in the opposite direction, considering all buses will travel to Jadranska Street.

Traffic analyzes have shown substantial capacities of this new solution and no crowds and stops approaching the City Port are expected. There will still be a problem of departing from the City Port, at peak hours (13.30 to 14.00) every day. This will be regulated in the future by adapting the timetables of Jadrolinija.

Check out the new flow of traffic below.

Furthermore, the deputy mayor of Split, Nino Vela, announced that on June 9, the highly anticipated city rail project would begin. Namely, tour bus passengers will be unloaded and loaded at the new Kopilica station and can travel for 11 kuna via public city transport from the Municipal Rail Station in Kopilica to the Split Ferry Port. Kopilica will boast a parking lot for 48 tour buses, and the daily parking fee for buses will cost 120 kuna (the same parking fee as Dračevac).

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Splitski Dnevnik writes on May 28, 2019, that we are just a few days away from the new traffic regulations in the center of Split. Allegedly, this will lead traffic outside the center of the city, which is becoming increasingly more congested year after year - and is, precisely, the consequence of transitioning from a port city to a booming tourist destination. 

And indeed, in recent years, cars have moved at the speed of snails down Ul. Kralj Zvonimira, making it much quicker to travel on foot in the hot summer season. The City of Split even announced that the regulations in the city center would also ease the life of tenants in the center. It's true, something needed to be done, though how it will go remains to be seen. 

Another, rather exciting part of the new traffic regulation comes June 9. While one-way traffic will already be introduced at the Split Ferry Port, the Main Railway Station in Kopilica will begin operating. Thus, tour bus passengers will be unloaded and loaded at the new Kopilica station and can travel for 11 kuna via public city transport from the Municipal Rail Station in Kopilica to the Split Ferry Port. Kopilica will boast a parking lot for 48 tour buses, and the daily parking fee for buses will cost 120 kuna (the same parking fee as Dračevac).

However, if tour buses did want to load and unload their passengers at the terminals at the Tourist Palace in the city center, they are limited to 15 minutes and will walk out with empty pockets. Namely, the buses who wish to bring their tourists to the Riva will have to pay 800 kuna (400 for unloading passengers, 400 for loading). Until now, they've paid 50 kuna.

"The organization of the Main Railway Station in Kopilica and the introduction of the city rail service in the service of public transport is expected to reduce the pressure of vehicles, especially tourist buses at the center of the city. Passengers can get to the center in just four minutes with the new metro and by using a unique ticket that is valid for the train and bus, issued by the hour. City trains on the route from Kopilica - Ferry Port and vice versa will travel every 20 minutes,” reads the correspondence sent to the travel agencies, which is signed by Deputy Mayor Nino Vela.

The announcement added that these measures are being introduced so that the “arrival of tourists in the destination is as pleasant as possible, and so that they do not waste time standing in queues, but also to make sure that the local population feels less pressure of tourist flows."

Thus, passengers are being shifted from the bus to the city train, as a way to make the temporary station project survive. Recall, 800 kuna is no small amount, and it is only logical to think that most carriers would decide against paying the fee to enter the center to unload their passengers. In Kopilica, every passenger is paying only 11 kuna to get to the city center. We just hope that it will truly only take four minutes to get there.

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Ex Yu Aviation writes on May 21, 2019, that the highly anticipated rail project connecting Split Airport with the Split ferry port should commence in June. 

"Our goal is to connect the ferry port with the airport. We are aware that traffic has doubled in the past ten years. We are working on the project connecting the city to the airport and we hope to begin the design and realization process in the next few years. It will involve the construction of a seven to nine kilometer railway,” said Nino Vela, Split’s Deputy Mayor. 

Recall, just last week, Vela also announced new traffic regulations for vehicles at Split’s busy city harbor from June 1, which will push all traffic one-way around the port.

Furthermore, Vela, announced that on June 9, the highly anticipated city rail project would begin. 

With this news comes a series of projects that plan to reduce the traffic problems of the city and its surroundings this year and next.

“The new traffic regulations in the city harbor begins with the realization of the public city rail project. We are enhancing public transport, especially in the most heavily loaded parts of the city such as the city harbor and Kopilica. With the new traffic regulations, the current two-way traffic in the city harbor will be reversed to one-way, which will increase the flow of traffic by two and a half times,” said Vela. 

“The many new bus lines that will drive through the harbor will experience wait times 5-6 times shorter. Namely, they will not be waiting at the traffic lights as they have been. The bus station will change the direction of its platforms and the site of the current roundabout in the city harbor will be a bus stop of great capacity where, at the same time, there will be two articulated buses, all for better public transport services. This will increase the current capacity of 15,000 people through the city port on buses to 45,000,” Vela added.

Vela says that there will be four new parking spaces for people with disabilities and a dozen new parking spaces for taxis. However, the biggest news is about the two new trains that will drive from the city harbor to Kopilica every 15 minutes, and will take just 4 minutes getting from point A to B. 

“We work on intermodal traffic so that air, sea, road and rail traffic are viewed as a whole. Soon there will be a train and bus connection. I'm just driving to Zagreb where I will coordinate the tickets at the Ministry and Croatian Railways with representatives of Split Traffic, after which its price will be known. In short, the traveler will be able to use the same ticket with the transport of buses and trains. The popular "metro" will be in the exclusive function of public transport. We are the first in Croatia. The idea of a city train was launched because we want to use the resources we have in Split. The railway in the town is almost dead. First, we will put in place what we have, and in parallel, we are launching projects for the construction of new traffic, i.e., roads and railroad tracks,” announced the Split deputy mayor.

And what’s going on at Kopilica today?

“At Kopilica, works on the main railway station are nearing the end and the station will be ready by the end of May. Works on the new bus parking area, with 48 new parking spaces, are underway and will be completed by the end of May. All this is part of the city rail service within the project that launched last year.”

Vela continued:

“Our goal is to connect the city's ferry port and airport. We know that traffic has doubled in the last ten years. The project connecting the city and the airport is underway. We hope to begin designing and realizing it in the next few years. A new 7 to 10 kilometers of new railways will be built.”

And in other Split traffic news:

“We all know that the getting into Split is always a problem. To our encouragement, Croatian Roads started work on the Dugopolje junction at the entrance to Split and these works should be completed by the end of June. Work is underway at the intersection of Poljička and Ul. Zbora narodne garde where the ramps are working, and works should be completed by the end of the year, which will improve the flow of traffic into Split. It is known that during the season there is congestion on the highway itself, which is very dangerous, but also congestion at the entrance to Poljička and Domovinskog rata. This ramp will use the upper-level detour and facilitate the flow in the lower level, thereby improving the flow of traffic. These things are now visible.”

A new passenger terminal is currently under construction at Split Airport, with plans to open this summer.

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Will Split really have a new metro from next summer?

The unbearable crowds on the roads of Split in the summer months, especially on the way to the ferry port, will be alleviated next season by a mini-metro line from Kopilica to the center itself. As reported, several institutions - from the Ministry of Transport to Croatian Railways and city services - hope to have these trains operating as early as June 1, 2019.