Iceland's Public Transport |
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Friday, 03 April 2009 |
If you're planning on taking a vacation to Iceland and lots of sightseeing and traveling is on your itinerary, you'd be best to check ahead on how you're going to get around as public transportation is quite limited in Iceland. As advanced as Iceland is in other areas such as nature resources and energy, they lack in public transportation, which is very underdeveloped with many areas served quite poorly. There is no subway, tram, railway or light rail services in Iceland.
Although many countries that are limited in public transport manage to have a train going through their area, Iceland does not. The major urban areas (Reykjavík and Akureyri) (are lucky enough to have limited service in the form of bus service. Although many of the major towns are linked by bus and nationwide coach services, a lot of the residents of Iceland use internal flights to transport them from major town to major town.
In spite of the public transportation being so limited in Iceland, many people own automobiles here in Iceland. In fact, Iceland has one of the world's highest automobile ownership rates. The ratio (580 cars per every 1,000 people) is very similar to what is seen in the United States. Because the area of Reykjavík is very widespread, you won't see near the amount of traffic congestion that's seen in the states. Another advantage of the area being so spread out is that there is not as much demand or need for public transportation. Surprisingly, economic development has not be slowed down much due to the lack of public transportation.
The past few years has seen and heard a lot of talk about building a railway service between Reykjavík and the Keflavík Airport, which is the main international airport in Iceland. However, considering that it's not located close to the capital, a coach service serves the area. Sea services such as ferries are also a means of public transportation here in Iceland. Ferries cover areas in the vicinities of Westman Islands, Faroe Island and the United Kingdom.
Iceland does have an airline that they're very proud of called Flugfélag Íslands. The Flugfélag Íslands are located in Reykjavík, Iceland is also called Air Iceland. The airline handles domestic flights that go to the Faroe Islands and Greenland, whose bases are Akureyri Airport and Reykjavík Airport. It actually provides a total of 15 destinations.
Flugfélag Íslands was formed in 1975 by Tryggvi Helgason. Although originally formed as Nordurflug, the airline was given the name Flugfelag Nordurlands when it became a corporation. In 1997 a merger between Norlandair and Icelandair Domestic resulted in the name being changed to its current name. Air Iceland or Flugfélag Íslands has over 220 employees today and is currently under the ownership of the Icelandair Group.
In spite of the public transportation situation in Iceland not being as efficient and complete as other countries, this has not limited the amount of tourists that have come to visit and spend time in Iceland as this country has much more to offer its guests.
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