The city authorities have initiated a review of the fare for public transport in Kyiv in response to requests from the transport enterprises’ trade unions. The relevant instruction to prepare new economically justified calculations regarding the cost of travel has been given to the departments of economics and transport of Kyiv by the mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
This is reported by Finway
Reasons for the Fare Increase
The Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) emphasizes that the current fare has long been out of line with market conditions, and the city lacks the resources to continue covering the difference between the cost price and the ticket price independently. Among the main reasons for this step are the significant increase in costs for electricity, fuel, materials, and logistics that has occurred since 2018, when the fare was last reviewed. During this time, the cost of transportation has risen, while fares in the capital have remained the lowest in Ukraine.
Due to the sharp increase in the cost price, public transport in Kyiv has become unprofitable. The budget for the current year had to allocate 12 billion hryvnias in subsidies to support transport enterprises. Additionally, the state has not compensated the city for the costs of free transportation for privileged categories of passengers for many years, leading to additional losses for the local budget amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnias annually.
How Kyiv Plans to Use the Saved Funds
Reducing the financial burden on the transport sector will allow the Kyiv City Council to direct the freed-up funds towards enhancing the energy resilience of the capital and preparing for a challenging heating season. At the same time, the KCSA has not yet specified either the exact date for the implementation of the new fares or their specific amount — final calculations from economists are expected.
“The cost of travel in the capital still remains the lowest in Ukraine and has not been reviewed since 2018. During this time, there has been a significant increase in the cost of transportation due to the rising prices of electricity, fuel, consumables, and logistics.”