Car-Free Day: Nis City Center Closed Until 1:30 PM
Nis closed its city center to traffic from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM for Car-Free Day, city buses are running rerouted routes, and similar restrictions are in effect in Pirot and Novi Sad.
Planning to drive through downtown Nis today? Don’t, because the roads stay closed until 1:30 PM. September 22 marks World Car-Free Day, the closing day of European Mobility Week, and in Nis that means a full shutdown of traffic in the city center.
Which Streets Are Closed in Nis
From 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM, traffic is completely suspended on King Milan Square and along stretches of General Milojko Lesjanin Street and Vozd Karadjordje Street, between the government building and the courthouse. If you usually cut through this area to reach downtown, you’ll need to take a detour today.
City and suburban bus routes are changing too, and for longer than the closure itself lasts, since buses have to work around the closed zone. Here’s exactly what’s different:
- Lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13 and 14, heading from the government building toward the courthouse, now run via King Aleksandar Square, Pavle Stojkovic Square, Tsar Dusan Street and Sindjelic Square, to the intersection by the courthouse
- On the return trip, from the courthouse toward the government building, lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 13 run via Sindjelic Square and Nikola Pasic Street to King Aleksandar Square
- Suburban lines 14, 14A, 15, 16, 17 and 17L, heading toward the suburban bus station, run along Nikola Tesla Boulevard, Aleksandar Medvedev Street and February 12 Boulevard
- Lines 18, 19, 20, 20L, 21, 23K and 37 run via Stefan Prvovencani Boulevard and Mladost Bridge, then along Nikola Tesla Boulevard to the bus station
If you’re taking public transport in Nis today, expect your ride to run a few minutes longer, especially if your stop is downtown. For more information, the Nis Public Transport Directorate can be reached at 018/505-656 and 018/505-665.
Pirot and Novi Sad: What’s Happening There
In Pirot, part of the city was declared a car-free zone today from 9 to 11 AM, as part of the same European campaign.
Novi Sad focused on its youngest residents. At Liberty Square at 11 AM, Mayor Zarko Micin greeted second-graders from Djordje Natosevic Elementary School, who rode bicycles across the square. The event was organized by the Traffic Safety Institute, led by director Slaven Manovic, with the Parking Service, the Cepom do Osmeha association and Serbia Epic also taking part.
Why Today
European Mobility Week runs from September 16 to 22, and this year’s slogan is Mobility for All. The campaign is backed by the Delegation of the European Union, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, with the goal of getting people to drive less and walk, cycle or use public transport more.
If you missed exactly when Car-Free Day fell in Nis this year, we covered that last week. For today, the practical advice is simple: if you need to get downtown, leave the car behind and grab a bike, walk, or plan around the rerouted lines, because there’s no getting through King Milan Square before 1:30 PM.
