The municipal enterprise Miskavtotrans of the Ternopil City Council has announced a tender for the purchase of 8-11 m long buses for a total of EUR 2 million under the Urban Public Transport of Ukraine program funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the EIB’s announcement, the bids are scheduled to be opened on November 5 this year.
The tender documents state that the buses should be fully low-floor, with 20-35 seats.
The first batch is to be delivered no later than 32 weeks from the date of receipt of the advance payment by the supplier, and the contract is expected to last for 40 weeks. However, price is not the only criterion for awarding the contract, but all criteria are specified only in the procurement documents.
As reported, Ternopil has already tried three times to purchase buses through an international tender – the last time the tender for the purchase of 15 buses 9-12 m long was canceled at the end of 2023.
According to Etalon Corporation, a Turkish company was declared the winner, but during the tender period, prices for the equipment rose and it became unprofitable to supply them.
Initially, the tender was announced in early 2021, with applications submitted by the Belarusian MAZ and Etalon Corporation, which was expecting to win the tender, but the procedure was delayed and stopped due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Under the Urban Public Transport program, the EIB was supposed to provide a loan of up to EUR 2 million for the purchase of 15 buses by Miskavtotrans, including spare parts, equipment and tools for maintenance and related services.
Initial registrations of new buses (including minibuses) in Ukraine in March 2024 decreased by 17%, or 16 units, compared to March last year, to 78 units, according to statistics released by Ukravtoprom.
At the same time, the demand for buses decreased by 27.8%, or 30 vehicles, compared to February 2014.
According to the statistics, the Ukrainian Ataman retained its leadership in the market with 21 buses registered compared to 37 in March 2013. Etalon buses took the second place, with registrations increasing to 20 vehicles compared to seven in March 2023. But compared to February this year, their sales fell by a third.
Ford took third place, as it did a year earlier, with 19 buses (two less),
Volkswagen took fourth place with 10 vehicles (not registered in March 2023), and Fiat rounded out the top five with three vehicles.
Turkish buses Temsa were not registered in March (a year earlier – one car). This brand reportedly planned to significantly strengthen its position in Ukraine.
Thus, in January-March 2024, the initial registrations of buses in Ukraine decreased by 27.6% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 305 units.
“Ukravtoprom also reports that the share of new buses in the Ukrainian bus market in March was 53%, and taking into account the old ones, the bus fleet (including minibuses) amounted to 146 units, which is 18% less than in March 2023 and 19% less than in February this year.
The three leaders in the used car segment were Mercedes-Benz – 22 units; Volvo – 11 units; and Van Hool – 9 units.
In 2023, the total initial registrations of new buses of all classes in Ukraine amounted to 1701 units, which is 86% more than in 2022.
The number of passengers who used buses to travel abroad in 2023 decreased to 7.5 million passengers, compared to 8.5 million in 2022.
Such data Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Sergiy Derkach made public, opening the forum of the reform of international bus transportation.
According to him, in 2020 only 1.1 million passengers traveled abroad by buses.
“This is a large passenger traffic today for Ukraine. For example, Ukrzaliznytsia carried 2 million passengers last year,” Derkach said.
He emphasized that bus service today, given the lack of air service, has become one of the main for trips from Ukraine abroad.
The average duration of travel by bus in international traffic is 31 hours of which about 7 hours passengers spend waiting at the border.
“This is exactly what the state should change and what you and I should change. That is why today we will present our reform: electronic tools that will primarily help the passenger and carriers,” Derkach said.
According to him, the register of international transportation will soon be available for passengers, in which each passenger will be able to find his route, check the carrier and going to his site to buy a ticket. A carrier’s office is being created for carriers, where they will be able to quickly open new routes without paperwork and bureaucratic procedures.
Deputy Minister expressed hope that the reform of intercity bus transportation will help to increase budget revenues. According to his data, about 25% of carriers operate in the market without paying taxes, and the budget receives up to UAH 500 million annually.
Initial registrations of new buses (including minibuses) in Ukraine in February 2014 increased by 22.7% compared to February last year, to 108 units, according to statistics released by Ukravtoprom.
At the same time, the demand for buses decreased by 9.2%, or 11 vehicles, compared to January 2014.
According to the report, the Ukrainian Ataman was the market leader with 40 buses registered: in February last year, it was second with 22 vehicles. The second place went to Etalon, the leader of last February, whose registrations decreased by 14 units to 30 buses.
Citroen took the third place, just like a year earlier, with 10 buses (one more), and Volkswagen was fourth again with 9 vehicles (5 units more).
Ford rounds out the top five with eight buses registered, compared to three a year earlier. In February last year, the top five was closed by Ukrainian ZAZ, but in February of this year, these buses were not registered.
At the same time, registrations of Turkish buses in February by Temsa amounted to only 1 unit against 13 in January this year. This brand reportedly plans to significantly strengthen its position in Ukraine, particularly in the school bus segment.
Thus, in January-February 2024, the first registrations of buses in Ukraine decreased by 30.6% compared to the same period in 2023 – to 227 units.
In 2023, the total number of new bus registrations of all classes in Ukraine amounted to 1,701 units, which is 86% more than in 2022.
The action of the electronic system “Electronic Border Crossing Queue” (“eCheck”) will be extended to buses carrying out international passenger transportation and passenger cars.
As the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Parliament Taras Melnychuk reported in a telegram channel, the government introduced the relevant amendments to the Resolution No. 1349 on the peculiarities of the implementation of the electronic system “e Queue” at the meeting on Friday.
The State Service of Ukraine for Transport Security (“Ukrtransbezopasnost”) specified that from August 1, the electronic queue for passenger carriers starts operating in a test mode at the Yahodyn-Dorogusk BCP.
“From Tuesday, August 1, the movement of buses of regular flights through the IACP “Yagodin – Dorogusk” will be possible only by entry in the Electronic queue of border crossing on the site”, – stated in the message of the Department in the telegram channel.
It is noted that the record in the “e Queue” for passenger carriers opens on July 31.
The agency specified that the bus driver can extend the queue once in 4, 6, 8 or 10 hours, if he needed more time on the road. At the same time, the data on the driver or vehicle can be changed once without losing a place in the queue.
In “Ukrtransbezopasnost” added that the schedule of buses will remain unchanged. Registered carriers should arrive at the checkpoint at the time stipulated by the bus route.
In the test period, the System will not offer entry times at the checkpoint for buses.
As reported, the Electronic Border Crossing Queue project is implemented by the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukrtransbezopasnost, State Agency for Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Development, State Customs Service and State Border Guard Service with the support of USAID/UK aid of the Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services/TAPAS project.
Bratislava Mayor Mateusz Vallo has offered Kiev assistance in attracting world experts in consulting in the restoration of infrastructure, development of the transportation system, said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko after a meeting with his Slovak counterpart.
“Our cities are linked by twinning relations… We agreed on further assistance from Bratislava, in particular in setting up a rehabilitation center for the military, which Kiev is creating. We also discussed the future restoration of Ukraine and Kyiv,” Klitschko wrote in Telegram on Tuesday evening.
Also, according to him, Bratislava will soon hand over 25 city buses to Kiev as aid. Now they are being prepared for shipment, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said.
