The city train started running from Zelenikovo to the Railway Station a few days ago. In its first three days it carried around 1,500 passengers - a figure Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski called good, estimating that the line covers around 200,000 residents and that 100,000 passengers will soon be passed.

The journey takes 24 to 28 minutes. The problem starts before and after those 28 minutes.

The only active route departs from Zelenikovo, passes through Novo Zelenikovo, Oresani, Jane Sandanski, Dracevo and Lisice, and ends at the Railway Station. Eight departures a day from each end according to one timetable, or nine according to another - and the morning slots missing from the schedule, particularly between 6 and 8am, are filled by the regular services from Prilep, Bitola, Veles and Gevgelija.

The station exists. It is the route to it that is missing. You reach the station in Gorno Lisice via the "12th Macedonian Brigade" boulevard, then left onto Mite Bogoevski alongside the canal, right over the bridge, past the neighbourhood shop, right onto Gornovranovska, then onto street "1350" - narrow and unmarked. The asphalt is new, the station freshly painted, there are four benches and a visible timetable. There is just nobody to tell you how to get there.

Dracevo is harder still. From the Dracevo market to the railway station takes about seven minutes by car. On foot - more than half an hour. And to reach the market you first have to get through the reconstruction of the "Boris Trajkovski" boulevard, where 800 metres of road take over half an hour, with traffic lights that stay red for 80 seconds and green for 20.

Then comes the second bill - literally. A one-way city train ticket is 40 denars, a return 70. A ticket on a JSP bus is 35 denars, or 40 if you pay by phone. There is no single ticket valid for both. Anyone who takes the train to the Transport Centre and then wants to reach the city centre, Bit Pazar or the Clinical Centre pays a second fare.

The City of Skopje says it is working on an integrated transport card: "The goal is to establish a simpler, more efficient and functional system for citizens." A formulation that describes a goal, not a date.

And an integrated ticket was already on the table. In July, councillors from Levica proposed that JSP bus tickets be valid for two hours, as in European cities. The proposal did not pass with the VMRO-DPMNE and "Vredi" majority in the Skopje City Council, and Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski did not take a position. Two months later, that very same integrated system is the answer journalists are given.

That the accessibility problem is known is no secret to the City either. Gjorgjievski announced that the City, together with JSP "Skopje" and the Transport Ministry, is working on adapting bus stops to bring passengers closer to the railway stations. That is an admission that the train was launched before it was settled how people would get to it.

The remaining two lines - towards Ilinden and towards Gjorce Petrov - have not yet been designed. Tracks exist on both, but with no traffic and in very poor condition. The design procedure is under way, followed by a tender for a contractor. The deadline is repeated differently in different statements - the end of 2027 or the start of 2028.

The train is punctual and air-conditioned. That is real progress and should not be underestimated. But public transport is not measured by how pretty the station is, it is measured by how many people can reach it without a car. For now, the surest way to get to the city train in Dracevo is - by car.