“There is a bus number 666 running from Dębki, located west of Władysławowo, to Hel itself… seemingly an innocent joke, but it’s hard not to consider it a malicious inspiration.” So railed the Polish Catholic website, Fronda. “Hell is a real place of extreme despair and pain, where the unfortunate souls of people who reject God’s love end up. There can be no greater catastrophe for man. Hell is the negation of humanity. It is eternal death and suffering. You can only laugh at this reality if you simply don’t understand what it is.”
The protest seems to have been the last nail in the coffin for the Bay of Puck sandbar route. The service, which runs during the summer months and often attracts tourists who are simply entertained by its numerology, suddenly changed to ‘669’ on Monday. The local bus operator, PKS Gdynia, did not offer an explanation but has revealed that, in the two days since the change was announced, the firm has been inundated with complaints “from the other side” by those who want the old 666 back.
“I’m not even from your country but I’ve loved seeing excited bus people take trips just to take a trip on this thing,” commented one user on PKS Gdynia’s Twitter page. “Really hope you change it back, I don’t want the story of this line to die.”
