Warsaw Metro Challenge
Posted: 08 Aug 2025, 07:51
Found myself in Warsaw for a few days so I thought of ticking of all 39 stations om the metro and making a mini FNC out of it; I have looked around various bits of the internet and I can't seem to find any actual previous attempts at this.
A comon joke in Polish goes:
Tourysta pyta: „Ile metra warszawskiego już wybudowano?” - [Tourist asks: “How much of the Warsaw metro has been built already?”]
Lokalny odpowiada: „Dopiero pół metra.” - [Local replies: “Only half of a metro system so far.”] or [Local replies: “Only half of a meter so far.”]
The untranslatable pun highlights how slow the Warsaw metro is developing; having 5 lines planned; but only 2 running.
The system only has two lines; crossing at one point. The Blue M1 line heads North to South; the newer Red M2 line heads East to West. It provides not much of a challenge except for finding a good connection between either the Northern and Eastern; or the Northern and Western termini.
Good things:
Date: 07/08/2025
Start: ~1912CEST @ Bemowo
Finish: ~2051CEST @ Kabaty
Time: 01:39.23
Competitor: Milo Ogidel
A comon joke in Polish goes:
Tourysta pyta: „Ile metra warszawskiego już wybudowano?” - [Tourist asks: “How much of the Warsaw metro has been built already?”]
Lokalny odpowiada: „Dopiero pół metra.” - [Local replies: “Only half of a metro system so far.”] or [Local replies: “Only half of a meter so far.”]
The untranslatable pun highlights how slow the Warsaw metro is developing; having 5 lines planned; but only 2 running.
The system only has two lines; crossing at one point. The Blue M1 line heads North to South; the newer Red M2 line heads East to West. It provides not much of a challenge except for finding a good connection between either the Northern and Eastern; or the Northern and Western termini.
Good things:
- Ridiculously cheap: 15PLN (~3GBP) for a 24hr ticket for all public transport in central Warsaw
- A very fast challenge (max. 2hr)
- A quite aesthetic M2 line; each stations skeletal architecture is almost identical; but the furnishing is unique to each station
- Quite boring as you are sitting on a train without being able to do anything for over an hour in total
- Very few opportunities to actually gain any time
- Eating food on the trains is illegal
- Jaywalking when within 100m of a predestrian crossing is illegal
- Pedestrian crossing when the light is red is illegal; fine when caught is 500PLN (~100GBP) - This law made me miss my bus
Date: 07/08/2025
Start: ~1912CEST @ Bemowo
Finish: ~2051CEST @ Kabaty
Time: 01:39.23
Competitor: Milo Ogidel