Tricity

[trahy-sit-ee, -sit-ee]

Tricity (or Tri-City, also called Treble City, in Polish Trójmiasto) is an urban area consisting of three Polish cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. They are situated adjacent to one other, in a row, on the coast of the Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Eastern Pomerania (Pomeranian Voivodeship), northern Poland. The Tricity metropolitan area has a population of over 1 million people. The name Trójmiasto was used informally or semi-formally only, until 28 March 2007, when the "Tricity Charter" (in Polish "Karta Trójmiasta") was signed as a declaration of cities' cooperation.

Welfare

Nearly 35% taxpayers from Tricity are in the middle and high taxable income groups (average for Poland 10%). Approximately 12% of Tricity taxpayers are in highest taxable income group (Polish average 3%).

Population

The total population of the 3 cities comprising Tricity (Gdańsk + Gdynia + Sopot):

XII.1960: 481,100 inhabitants (286,900 + 150,200 + 44,000)
XII.1970: 604,800 inhabitants (365,600 + 191,500 + 47,700)
XII.1975: 693,800 inhabitants (421,000 + 221,100 + 51,700)
XII.1980: 744,400 inhabitants (456,700 + 236,400 + 51,300)
XII.2004: 754,960 inhabitants (460,524 + 253,650 + 40,785)
XII.2006: 748,126 inhabitants (456,658 + 251,844 + 39,624)

The Tricity metropolitan area also includes Wejherowo, Reda, Rumia, Pruszcz Gdański and several other communities. The total population in 2006 was 1,100,500, in an area of 1580.69 km².

The Tricity continuous urban area includes following cities:

city	area 1996 km²	area 2006 km²	pop. 1996	pop. 1999	pop. 2003	pop. 2006
Gdańsk	262.03	266.00	462,336	457,937	461,011	456,658
Gdynia	135.49	135.49	251,932	255,014	253,500	251,844
Sopot	17.31	17.31	43,360	42,333	41,017	39,624
Pruszcz Gdański	16.47	16.47	21,470	21,757	23,187	24,276
Rumia	32,86	30.00	?	40 200	43 000	44,551
Reda	26.39	30.00	15,422	17,510	17,868	18,610
Wejherowo	25.65	26.00	47,357	47,038	46,900	45,522
Total	513.42	521.27	882,871	884,080	885,240	881,085

According to official EU publication the population of Larger Urban Zone of Tricity is 1 098 379.

Education

The Tricity is an important center of education.

Gdańsk: Number of universities: 14 (2001) Number of students: 60,436 (2001) Number of graduates: 10,439 (2001)
Gdynia: Number of universities: 7 (2003) Number of students: 13,362

Some of universities:

Entertainment

Cinemas:

Helikon
Kameralne
Kinoplex
Krewetka
Multikino
Neptun
Żak
Polonia
Silver Screen

Theatres:

Wybrzeże Theatre
Danuta Baduszkowa Musical Theatre in Gdyni
Witold Gombrowicz Municipal Theatre in Gdynia
Atelier Theatre in Sopot
Dreams Theatre
Miniatura Theatre in Gdansk
Maybe Theatre Company in Gdansk
Theatre Znak in Gdansk
Wybrzeżak Theatre
Leśny Theatre
Scena Kameralna Teatru Wybrzeże
Scena Letnia Teatru Miejskiego im. Witolda Gombrowicza przy Molo w Orłowie
Scena Teatralna ŻAK
Fundacja Theatrum Gedanense

Opera house and Philharmonic

Forest Opera in Sopot
Frederic Chopin Polish Baltic Philharmonic (ENG, DE)
Polska Filharmonia Kameralna in Sopot
The Baltic Opera

Climate

Tricity has a temperate climate with warm summers and cold winters that can be very severe. Rain is possible all year round. Summer is the best time to visit when temperatures range from 70°F to 90°F (20°C to 30°C), but evenings can be cool enough to require a sweater. Winters are wet, cold and grey.

Transport

Tricity has a well-developed common transport system, in addition each city has its own. Here is described only the common part of the system.

Development of the Tricity was smoothed by the construction of the city train (SKM) 1951, binding the whole area from Tczew by Gdańsk, Sopot 1953, Gdynia 1956, Reda, Rumia to Wejherowo 1957.

The backbone of the Tricity is the inner highway. It starts in Gdańsk and goes through Sopot, Gdynia, Rumia and Reda to Wejherowo. It consists of 2-4 lanes in each direction.

In 1975 the dual carriageway Tricity Beltway (Obwodnica Trójmiejska) was constructed. It starts in the vicinity of Pruszcz Gdański and goes through the western districts of Gdańsk to Gdynia-Chylonia.

There is plan to build new line of Szybka Kolej Miejska to connect Baltic Arena with Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport. The line should be ready for 2012 Euro games

Airport

Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airportis one of the three main international Polish airports. Its position is associated with a well-developed network of domestic and international transport connections provided in response to the growing demand for business and tourist travel.

The Gdansk Airport is located a mere 10 km from the centre of Gdansk, about the same distance from the centre of Sopot and 23 km from the centre of Gdynia. The continually expanding road system which connects the airport with the city centres allows drivers to cover the distances in about 15-20 minutes. The close vicinity of the Tri-city by-pass and junctions with state motorways nos. 1, 6 and 7 facilitates access from areas outside the Tri-city. The convenient location of the airport makes it easy for travellers and cargo carriers to transfer from air to road, and also to the railway network and seaports. Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport has its own railway siding which can be used for handling large lots of cargo dispatched by air.

The efficient Gdansk Airport operates even the biggest planes and allows thousands of tourists to visit the Pomerania province every day. Just in front of the main entrance to the passenger terminal the visitors can find a bus that will take them to the city centre. They may also chose to take a taxi that will take them wherever they want to go in the area of the Tri-City for a relatively small price.

Getting airport by bus

to/from Gdansk Wrzeszcz - line 110
to/from Gdansk - line B
to/from Gdansk Wrzeszcz/ Gdansk Central Train Station - night line N3
to/from Gdynia Central Train Station - line 510

Airplanes connections with GDN:

Amsterdam (Centralwings)
Belfast (EasyJet)
Barcelona Girona (Centralwings, WizzAir)
Birmingham (Ryanair)
Bournemouth (WizzAir)
Bristol (EasyJet)
Cardiff (bmibaby)
Cologne / Bonn (WizzAir)
Copenhagen (SAS)
Cork (WizzAir)
Coventry (WizzAir)
Cracow (LOT)
Doncaster Sheffield (WizzAir)
Dortmund (WizzAir)
Dublin (Centralwings, Ryanair)
East Midlands (bmibaby)
Edinburgh (Centralwings, EasyJet)
Frankfurt (LOT, Lufthansa)
Frankfurt Hahn (Ryanair)
Glasgow Prestwick (WizzAir)
Goteborg (WizzAir)
Hamburg (LOT)
Hamburg Lubeck (WizzAir)
Helsinki (Finnair)
Karlskrona Ronneby
Liverpool (WizzAir)
London Gatwick Airport (EasyJet)
London Luton Airport (WizzAir)
London Stansted Airport (Ryanair)
Malmo Sturup (WizzAir)
Munich (LOT)
Oslo (Norwegian, SAS)
Oslo Torp (WizzAir)
Rome (Centralwings)
Shannon (Centralwings)
Stockholm Skavsta (WizzAir)
Turku (WizzAir)
Warsaw (LOT)

Ferries

Ferryboats connections with Gdynia, Sopot, Gdansk:

Gdynia - Karlskrona - Gdynia (Stena Line)
Gdansk - Nynashamn - Gdansk (Polferries)
Gdynia - Hel - Gdynia (line 520)
Gdynia - Jastarnia - Gdynia (line 530)
Gdansk - Hel - Gdansk (line F1)
Sopot - Hel - Sopot (line F2)
Sopot - Gdansk - Sopot (line F3)

Buses

The variety and a number of connections make the travel around the Tri-City and surrounding areas very easy. One of the most popular means of transport in the Pomerania province is the public bus. There are a great number of bus lines and they cover every district of the three cities of the metropolis.