Which bike lane should cyclists ride on?

May-June 2024
The Supreme Administrative Court upheld an order of May 16, 2024 in administrative case No. 4553/2024 of the Administrative Court of Sofia - city. With it, the first instance court had ordered the unconditional TERMINATION of the ACTIONS CARRIED OUT BY OFFICIALS of the Sofia Municipality and ordered by the Deputy Mayor for Transport Iliyan Pavlov, to introduce a new permanent organization of traffic in the center of Sofia. This is an organization on “Vitosha“ Blvd., “Patriarh Evtimiy“ Blvd. and “Prof. Fridtjof Nansen” St. by drawing new road markings, placing road signs, barrier structures, etc. After that, Mayor Vasil Terziev nevertheless admitted that a mistake had been made.

The court of first instance accepted that the lack of an up-to-date GENERAL PLAN for the organization of traffic for the section in question, as well as for the entire municipality, led to a conclusion of UNREASONABLE PERFORMANCE OF ACTIONS TO INTRODUCE A NEW PERMANENT ORGANIZATION OF TRAFFIC AT THE SPECIFIED LOCATIONS. The latest General Plan of Sofia Municipality was adopted by a decision of the Sofia Municipal Council of March 8, 2021. At the time of the actual actions taken on the new organization of traffic, the period of validity of this plan had expired, therefore there is no valid plan. The general traffic plan in the capital expired in 2017 - it was last renewed in 2012, valid for 5 years. The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court raises the question of whether all the changes in Sofia's traffic over the past 7 years are illegal.

During this period, the mayor was Yordanka Fandakova, who is now a GERB MP, and her party ruled the Sofia Municipal Council. After the local elections in the fall of 2023, Vasil Terziev from PP-DB became mayor.

The question today
So the question related to the photo today, because nothing has been done, is which bike lane should cyclists ride on - the one on the sidewalk or the one on the roadway (according to the new organization). And why is a new bike lane being built on the road at all, when there is one on the sidewalk…