Prague City Council will commission a feasibility study this year to evaluate a circular transport connection.

The project could be either metro line O or a new tram ring.

The proposed route runs from Dejvice via Smíchov, Budějovická, Vršovice, Žižkov, Vysočany, and Čakovice, then back to Prague 6. The study may also include possible extensions of metro lines A and C.

The plan was originally prepared under Adam Scheinherr (Praha Sobě) during Mayor Zdeněk Hřib’s (Pirates) term. It was first called line E and later renamed metro O.

The goal is to improve travel between peripheral districts so passengers can avoid the city center.

The circular metro is designed to connect neighborhoods that currently rely mainly on tram and bus lines. It aims to reduce congestion in central stations such as Můstek, Muzeum, and Florenc.

Jaromír Beránek (Pirates), Deputy Minister for Transport, said building a new metro line is a long-term project. He said the city cannot fund everything from its own budget. The state will need to contribute to many construction projects.

Beránek favors a tram ring because it is faster and cheaper. He said: “I am trying to remind the public that we are working intensively on new tram lines. We will see the connection in the form of a ring road significantly earlier and cheaper than the metro.”

The metro O route would start at Podbaba, pass through Dejvice, Smíchov, Dvorce, Budějovická, Vršovice, Žižkov, Vysočany, and Čakovice, and return to Podbaba. An earlier version planned closure north of Podbaba.

In 2022, the loop was revised to close further south to connect with the future metro D line.

The idea of a circular metro is not new. Plans for a similar line date back to the 1980s but were never completed. Praha Sobě says the city is expanding outward, with hundreds of thousands of people arriving in Prague every day.

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