Ukraine has simplified the opening of international bus routes with the Czech Republic, exempting carriers from the need to confirm the presence of a parity partner from a neighboring country, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (MinRestore) has announced.
According to the report, the period for coordinating the route and issuing a permit will not exceed four months. Communication channels have been established between the countries specifically for the opening of routes.
The relevant changes were agreed upon at a meeting of the joint commission between the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.
“The growing demand for bus transportation requires the state to ensure an effective process of opening new routes so that the market can quickly respond to passenger demand. The Czech Republic is one of the most popular countries in terms of bus service, so together with our Czech colleagues we have simplified the procedure for opening routes,” Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Serhiy Derkach said in a statement.
He expressed hope that the decision would help improve transport accessibility, increase passenger traffic and help boost business.
The report indicates that the Czech Republic became the first country with which Ukraine ensured full compliance of regular bus routes.
This year, agreements on non-parity passenger transportation were also signed with Slovakia.
The Turkish company Anadolu Isuzu will supply new low-floor buses to Mykolaivpastans for a total of EUR 4.5 million as part of the Urban Public Transport of Ukraine project funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The announcement of the award of the contract based on the results of the tender was published in an annex to the Official Journal of the EU, which AllTransUA refers to.
The number of buses is not specified, however, as reported, in July 2023, the Chernihiv Automobile Plant of the Etalon Corporation stated that it had offered 55 buses for this amount, while two Turkish companies offered 26 and 28 units, respectively.
As reported, the terms of the tender provide for the supply of diesel-powered buses with a length of 8.2 m to 10.5 m, including basic and consumable spare parts, equipment and tools for maintenance and repair, and related services.
The buses must have a passenger capacity of at least 60 people, including at least 24 seats (plus one wheelchair space).
The first batch of buses should be delivered no later than five months from the date of receipt of the advance payment by the supplier, and the contract should be completed in 12 months.
Mykolaivpastrans announced the tender on April 5, 2023, as part of the resumption of cooperation with the EIB under the Urban Public Transport of Ukraine project.
In turn, in April this year, Kyivpastrans signed a contract with the same Turkish company for the supply of 12-meter fully low-floor buses for EUR 18.595 million (approximately up to 85 units) with EIB funding.
Ukrainian bus manufacturers have repeatedly noted that they are either unable to participate in EIB tenders due to the conditions or prefer foreign bidders.
Auto-Region, the exclusive distributor of Turkish Temsa buses in Ukraine, plans to sell about 100 buses of this brand in 2024, which will increase its market share to 10% compared to 2% in 2023, when 20 buses were sold, said Mykyta Haidamakha, head of the bus production department.
“Last year our share was 2%, but this was the beginning of a joint production of buses with Temsa in Ukraine, and this year we plan to sell at least 100 buses primarily through participation in the School Bus state program,” he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday.
He clarified that to date the company has managed to achieve a localization level of almost 20%, and is now working to increase this share this year to 25%, taking into account the requirements of the localization law.
According to him, two models are now localized in Ukraine: the Prestij SX intercity bus with 30 seats and a school bus based on this model.
“As of today, the first production batches of these models are at the final stage of production and will be available for order starting in April,” the expert specified.
At the same time, he added that for the implementation of the production program, large contacts have already been signed with Ukrainian component manufacturers.
As the head of the company’s sales department, Oleksandr Butenko, clarified, Ukrainian components in the bus include seats, double-glazed windows, autonomous heating systems, and interior furnishings.
“Currently negotiations are underway with a Ukrainian company about installing a Smart Bus system, and this is a warning system that can find the nearest shelters, and even allows parents to see their children on the bus,” Butenko clarified.
Haidamakha, in turn, emphasized that the company is currently developing a large investment project and plans to protect it with the aim of starting production in Ukraine of all buses of the Temsa model line.
“In particular, yesterday we received the first updated model of a tourist bus with 55 seats, we are attracting engineers to study the product, and we will look for ways to localize it here,” he said.
In addition, the possibility of creating a school bus with an electric motor is being considered, the project of which is planned to be implemented in the near future.
According to him, the Temsa school bus is significantly more expensive than models from domestic manufacturers, its cost is UAH 4 million 950 thousand
“But we do not set the goal of competing on price. The main goal that we have set with our partners is not so much the development of production as the transfer of experience and standards operating in the world to Ukraine. We want to show by our example that such transport is more expedient, and change the existing market in Ukraine,” Haidamakha emphasized.
He expressed the opinion that Ukraine, when forming a state transport strategy, needs to understand how certain savings in procurement will then result in overpayment in the future, when the need arises to replace it with equipment that meets European standards.
Haidamakha noted that today in Ukraine many tenders for the supply of electric buses with funds from European financial institutions remain without applications and are postponed due to the fact that manufacturers cannot fulfill the customer’s conditions.
In addition, in his opinion, the bottleneck in the localization law is the inability to cover the existing demand in Ukraine for the supply of tourist buses for government agencies.
Auto-Region, BUS, Haidamakha, koralp, Kovbik, Pasichnyi, School bus, school transportation, smart bus, Temsa, Братчикова, Бутенко
The bus operator FlixBus will launch a new international line from Chernivtsi to Wroclaw, Poland from June 4, the company said on Wednesday.
According to the company, the new line received the number 3232, its full route: Chernivtsi – Kolomyia – Ivano-Frankivsk – Lviv – Krakow – Katowice – Wroclaw.
Krakow and Wroclaw are major transport hubs for FlixBus. From them, buses can reach more than 100 European cities, the company said in the press release.
The company announced that two previously suspended international FlixBus lines are also being relaunched. These are N3222 Kyiv – Warsaw – Szczecin (will start running again from June 3) and 3241 Chernivtsi – Warsaw (from June 4).
Their routes: – N3222: Kyiv – Zhytomyr – Rivne – Lutsk – Lublin – Warsaw – Lodz – Poznan – Gorzow Wielkopolski – Szczecin; and 3241: Chernivtsi – Kolomyia – Ivano-Frankivsk – Lviv – Lublin – Warsaw.
All three of these lines will initially operate three times a week, but will increase in frequency over time.
So, as early as June 28, the Kyiv – Szczecin line will begin to run four times a week, and Chernivtsi – Warsaw and Chernivtsi – Wroclaw – five times a week. Branded green buses FlixBus are assigned to these lines.
A Memorandum of Cooperation between the Kharkiv City Council and the Turkish bus manufacturing company Karsan was signed in Kharkiv during the international forum Municipal Infrastructure: Urban Development and Comfort.
The press service of the Kharkiv City Council said, citing Secretary Ihor Terekhov, that it is planned to purchase about 500 Turkish-made buses within several years. This will become the basis for the creation of municipal bus public transport, as well as to start joint production of buses in Kharkiv.
“We have agreed with our Turkish partners that these buses will be assembled in our city. For this we will create about 300 jobs. Turkish investors will decide on the basis of which enterprise this will take place. But negotiations with local business are already underway. For Kharkiv this is an economically viable project,” the press service said, citing Terekhov.
According to him, about 150 buses of different classes (8-meter buses for rush hour traffic and 6-meter buses for transportation when traffic is less) are planned to be purchased by the end of the year. These are low-floor buses with hufter-proof coating.
Bus operator FlixBus launches trips on the route Kyiv-Warsaw, with stops in Zhytomyr, Rivne and Radom (Poland). According to the press service of the carrier, Kyiv-Warsaw buses depart from Kyiv at 16:00 on Wednesday and Saturday from the bus station Kyiv (32 Symona Petliury Street), at 15:30 on Tuesdays from Warsaw from the bus station Warszawa Zachodnia.
The company notes that all FlixBus lines have increased safety and hygiene standards. In particular, one must wear a protective mask in the bus, covering the nose and the mouth, and buses are disinfected in a professional way after each trip.
The carrier also reminds its customers to carefully check the rules of entry into the destination country.
In total, 11 FlixBus lines are currently operating in Ukraine: nine international (Odesa-Prague- Plzeň, Kyiv-Krakow-Prague, Kyiv-Warsaw, Kyiv-Vilnius, Kyiv-Krakow-Rostock, Kyiv-Cologne, Kyiv-Karlsruhe, Kyiv- Stuttgart, Kyiv-Budapest-Vienna) and three internal ones (Kyiv-Odesa-Zatoka, Kyiv-Lviv, Kyiv-Uzhgorod).
