Public transportation in Macedonia

If I had one criticism of Macedonia it would be the roads.  I have travelled in Africa and the Caribbean both of which are notorious for their dangerous roads. Macedonia is somewhere up among my least favourite countries to be on the roads.

Since we have been here we have been to several funerals of people my wife or my wifes family knew very well whom have died in road traffic accidents and I have seen a few collisions and accidents here that have been fairly horrific. Indeed, my own wife and child were involved in an accident with an unlicensed taxi driver just a few months ago which has been making us question our desire to stay.

This road roulette is something one has to consider very carefully if your going to be here for a long time. 

Just walking back from the local shops near my office today a car flew towards the crossing breaking hard and the car then went into a slide between the scurrying people crossing the road narrowly missing them. The lights were red and yet somehow the driver missed that until he was almost on the crossing at speed.  To make matters worse, the driver then started to fight with one of the chaps crossing the road!. To be fair he may have been visiting Macedonia as I think the language he was speaking was Albanian but the plates are on the car were Skopje plates and regardless of where this particular chap was from. This is a fairly typical experience.   I see this sort of catastrophic near miss pretty much every day. Sadly, they do not all miss and a small portion of people like this will probably do exactly the same sort of thing next time he is out until they eventually kill someone.


Is the network of means of transportation well developed? What modes of transport are available?

On the upside:  The road system is relatively uncongested, particularly on the main connections. Buses are very cheap and much of the fleet has been replaced with new double deck models so they are cleaner and there is more space available.

Do you use them?

Buses are extremely cheap and much of the fleet of vehicles has been replaced however, they tend to be extremely busy so I tend not to use them much myself.  My wife does though.

How much is a fare?

Very very Cheap indeed. 30 Denars (Just under 50 Pence) will get you practically anywhere in the capital.

Taxi from the outskirts to the centre around 150-200 Denars.



Are they relatively safe?

Probably the safest option on the basis that a bus is a safer vehicle to be in if another driver or a taxi crosses lanes or loses control. 

What is the mean of transportation you use the most in Macedonia?

Trusted driver / Taxi.