Oslo’s main bus terminal downtown ranks as the third-largest transport terminal in the country, with 1,350 daily bus arrivals and departures that carry 50,000 people. The current terminal has long been deemed inadequate to handle all the traffic, so a major expansion and renovation is due to begin early next year.
“We’re going to upgrade the locale so the public will have more space and a better overview and service,” the director of Akershus Kollektivterminaler, Jafar Altememy, told newspaper Aftenposten.
Annette Solli, mayor of Akershus County, noted that the bus terminal forms visitors’ first impression of Oslo. “I think the new bus terminal will be more efficient, offer a better transport experience and be positive for downtown Oslo,” Solli said.
Long-term plans have called for moving the bus terminal into a new, multi-level addition to Oslo’s central train station located two blocks away. Altememy said there were many obstacles to that plan, however, and that it will take at least another 10 years to realize it. “The work we’re starting here is absolutely necessary,” he said. It will cost an estimated NOK 60 million (USD 7.8 million) and be due for completion in 2019.
newsinenglish.no staff
