OVERVIEW: Oct. 28 brings shop closings, transport changes, and kids home from school

Oct. 28 is a special day in the Czech Republic’s calendar. The Czechoslovak Independence Day (also known as Independent Czechoslovak State Day) marks the creation of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918.

Friday's public holiday will bring about changes to the operations of daily businesses in the country. Added to this, schoolchildren's fall holidays, which start today, will signal slight changes in the capital's transport network.

It’s not always easy to keep track of what is open and what isn’t; Deputy Speaker of Czechia's lower house of parliament Věra Kovářová herself admitted that "I always look for information on whether [shops are] open or closed during national holidays on the Internet," as reported in MSN.com.

Here is a handy overview of what to expect in the coming days.

People who have empty fridges at the moment may want to think about doing advance grocery shopping before Independence Day.

Large supermarkets and general stores (such as Bauhaus or IKEA) that are over 200 square meters are ordered by law to close on Oct. 28. Supermarket Lidl and department store Primark, for example, will shut their doors. 

Shopping centers are not legally obliged to close, but stores over the size limit will need to be shut.

Shops with a sales area of less than 200 square meters are allowed to operate (such as local “Potraviny” and minimarket stores). 

Restaurants, cafes, and bars that are usually open on Sundays will also be open on the public holiday.

Shops in train/metro stations, as well as airports, are also allowed to operate as usual. Wholesalers (Makro, for example) will too be allowed to stay open during the period. The same applies to shops found in hospitals. Pharmacies and similar medical facilities will also remain open during the public holiday.

Children in Czechia will be pleased about Independence Day falling on a Friday. A two-day holiday for Czech primary and secondary schoolchildren begins today, giving them a total of five days’ vacation before returning to school on Oct 31.

The reduction of passengers over the next few days does, however, affects some parts of the transport schedule in Prague. Here are some things to look out for.

According to the Transport Company of Prague (DPP), most bus services will have waiting times that are 2-3 minute longer than usual in the morning and afternoon rush hours. During the fall holidays for children, there will be no school service routes on city or suburban buses.

Prague’s metro will run as normal, with intervals between services lengthened by between 15 and 30 seconds. 

During the holiday period through till Oct. 31, trams will run at intervals extended by 1 or 2 minutes.

For the most frequently used tram lines – 9, 17, and 22 – intervals for each tram line during peak hours will be extended by 1 minute (from 4 to 5 minutes). For the rest of the services, the gap between trams will increase from 8 to 10 minutes.

Non-peak times will see interval times roughly extended by a further 1-2 minutes.

On the Friday Independence Day holiday, Prague's whole transport system will run according to standard Saturday timetables. On Friday, you will notice Czech flags placed at the front of trams running through the city!