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Tourism, Albania's public transport finally enters "Google Maps"

2025-01-08 07:37:00, Aktualitet CNA

The touristic Albania of recent years has been a surprise for foreigners, who with the surprise of discovering a destination with many natural beauties, also encountered the challenge of orientation in a country where public transport is somewhat chaotic.

But it seems that the year 2025 will be somewhat simpler for those who choose to visit us, because the data for intercity public transport has already been integrated into Google Maps, making orientation easier.

This means that to go from one city to another, it is enough to search on "Google Maps" and the route is generated automatically, in some cases with more than one option, depending on the destination you want to go to and the route you want to choose.

For example, if you want to go from Korça to Saranda, you have two options according to what the map generates. The first option is to go through Gjirokastra. So in Korça you will take the GJ5 bus from the Terminal and you will arrive in Gjirokastër in a journey that lasts three hours. Then you will take the G3 bus that will take you to Saranda on a route that takes a little over an hour.

Another possibility is if you want to go from Përmet to go from Korça to Saranda. If you choose this option, you will have to take the KO32 bus to the terminal, which goes to Përmet. Then from Përmet you will travel to Gjirokastra with GJ19 for one hour and 10 minutes.

At the Gjirokastra station, you can go to Saranda with vehicles of Argjiro Sh.pk. The data on this route are generated by e-transport and the other site Gjirafa Travel.

The third option is a direct line that leaves from Korça to Saranda with the KO1 bus on a route that takes 4 hours and 37 minutes.

The same logic applies to other destinations. For example, if we take Tirana and Durrës, who comes from the coastal city to the capital has two options.

The first is through the Tirana-Durrës highway, where first from the station in Durrës you have to take the Dr6 bus and then go from Terminal B to the center with the urban city bus with line 4 if you want to go to the center of the capital, for example.

If someone is looking for another option to come from Durrës, there is also the possibility of crossing from Ndroqi where from the Plepave station you can take the Tr65 line that stops at Terminal B and then take the same urban line as in the previous case.

The data that are currently cross-referenced on Google Maps to obtain information are sourced from several operators from E-transport, which is the official site of intercity public transport in the country, the Municipality of Tirana regarding public transport in the capital, as well as private entities that have platforms data on transport such as Gjirafa Travel or others.

Albania, with the increase in interest as a tourist destination, has found it necessary to coordinate public transport on Google Maps, given that the opportunities it offers are limited, stopping only at buses, as there are no functional railway lines. Anyway, better late than never and 2025, at least in this respect, comes with good news./ Monitor Magazine