Archive: June 2023

On June 22, experts from the NGO "Vision Zero" came to the city of Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The purpose of this familiarization visit was to gather up-to-date information on the operation of public transport and the nuances of its operation.

In the premises of the city council, we talked with local representatives of local self-government bodies. Among others, with Ihor Pysklynets, the deputy mayor for financial, economic and social development, Iryna Babii, the leading specialist of the department of trade, transport and agricultural industry, and Taras Novoselskyi, the head of the economy department.

Iryna Babii said that there are 6 city bus routes in Nadvirnaya. All of them are served by private carriers with small-class buses. Complaints about their work from passengers are rare. Mostly this is in the case of a fare increase and some kind of rudeness on the part of the driver. The fare on city "routes" is UAH 10, and for students it is UAH 8. Travel is free for privileged categories (and schoolchildren), but carriers do not receive compensation from the city budget. Therefore, there is an "unspoken" rule of two preferential seats in one bus.

The city leaders have a desire to create a municipal carrier for their own control and organization of transportation. However, since the beginning of a full-scale war, the city budget cannot allow this. They say that this will be possible only thanks to grant support from international donors.

As for suburban and district transportation between villages of the Nadvirnya Territorial Community, the situation is much worse . In fact, each route has its own carrier with one or two buses. The tariff varies depending on the mileage. Travel allowances do not apply there.

The main problem of these transports is the condition of the road surface both in the villages and between them. There are several villages where the leaders of the territorial community are asking the existing carrier to make at least a small number of flights.

Also, in Nadvirnaya there is a problem with the organization of the parking system in the city. As of now, it is very chaotic , said Taras Novoselskyi. Cashless payment for parking is not possible because there was no parking operator who would install an expensive parking meter. And the drivers of "routes" in the middle of the city have set up a permanent "bus station" that interferes with the movement of other vehicles. The city administration cannot finally overcome this. There are several problematic intersections in the city that need professional research and solutions.

Specialists of the NGO "Vision Zero" managed to investigate them in person, as well as some other parts of the streets, where the latest infrastructure solutions can be implemented.

In conclusion, Ihor Pysklynets said that the city leaders want to implement the transformation of one of the streets in the central part of the city into a pedestrian one. However, there are obstacles with the approval of such a decision in the police and discussion among residents.

Complete and up-to-date data on public transport in Ukraine and other European countries is important for those who are interested in this topic, analyze it, research or write about it. Therefore, for itself and for other interested parties, NGO "Vision Zero" has prepared and publishes a consolidated database. As complete and authentic as we managed.

Database .XLSX for download: in Ukrainian and English

The sources of information for this database were the statistical reports of the corporation "Ukrlektrotrans" (thank you for this), as well as data received directly from the cities of Ukraine, and data from international available sources. We invite you to be among the first users and "testers" of this database. Please send comments and suggestions to the organization's e-mail with the subject "HT Database", and we will definitely take them into account in the next editions. We plan to update and publish this database on an annual basis until one of the Ukrainian state authorities starts maintaining a similar database.

For reference: the database in the format of electronic tables contains 15 tabs, including information on: 1. Number of cities with tram systems in European countries: 226 systems in 30 countries; 2. Characteristics of tram systems in European countries: 11,925 kilometers of tram tracks; 3. Number of cities with trolleybus systems in European countries: 25 countries and 146 systems; 4. Characteristics of trolleybus systems in European countries: 10,776 trolleybuses; 5. List of Ukrainian cities with current systems of electric and other public transport: 47 cities; 6. Contact data of transport utilities of electric transport: 33 cities; 7. List and characteristics of tram systems of Ukraine by city: 1734 km and 2249 cars; 8. List and characteristics of trolleybus systems of Ukraine by city: 41 cities and 4397 km of contact networks; 9. Infrastructure of electric transport utility companies: 687 traction substations; 10. Inventory fleet of tram cars in Ukrainian cities as of January 1, 2022 with an analysis of its changes in 2021; 11. Inventory fleet of trolleybuses in the cities of Ukraine as of January 1, 2022 with an analysis of its changes in 2021; 12. Age of tram cars in Ukrainian cities as of 01.01.2021; 13. Age of trolleybuses in Ukrainian cities as of January 1, 2021; 14. Rating indicators of the financial and operational efficiency of the city electric transport company of Ukraine in 2019; 15. Manufacturers of rolling stock of public transport: 50 machine-building enterprises of Europe.

Database .XLSX for download: in Ukrainian and in English

As we reported earlier , one of the decisions of the NGO "Vision Zero" was to start the process of de-Russification of the Ukrainian "Wikipedia" and its addition to the topic of public transport, its infrastructure and urban mobility in general. 

photo: Oleksandr Shutyuk

We were motivated to do this by the small number of articles on this topic, as well as the fact that the existing thematic articles were often based on Russian sources, inaccurate or even outdated. As of June 23, 2023, specialists of the NGO "Vision Zero" have already created 19 new thematic articles, and 8 articles have been updated. You can get acquainted with all of them at this link.

Urgent, expensive and often unpopular solutions are needed - otherwise even the maintenance of existing public transport will soon be impossible, let alone development. This is one of the main common theses from various participants of the round table, organized by the "Center of Transport Strategies" together with the NGO "Vision Zero" . It was attended by representatives of Ukrainian manufacturers of public transport and its infrastructure, specialized industry experts, public activists and some representatives of authorities related to the topic of public transport.

For example, Volodymyr Budzan, commercial director of "Electronmash" , said that often after the delivery of trams in accordance with the contract, they have to wait half a year for payment for their products from an international donor, who provides the city of Lviv with a loan for the purchase of trams. This negatively affects the work of the enterprise, significantly inhibiting further production.

Dmytro Bespalov, lecturer of KNUBA, director of the company "ProMobility" said that public transport is the basis of the economy. Upgrading rolling stock is important, but infrastructure is more important, because infrastructure upgrades can provide more localization of products and more jobs.

The thesis about the importance of transport infrastructure was further developed by Pavlo Savtsov, head of sales in the areas of urban electric transport and metro at PJSC "Pluton" . For the most part, the cities of Ukraine, which before the full-scale war massively updated the various rolling stock of electric transport, most often did not update the infrastructure before it (railways, substations, contact network, etc.). And if they are already updated, then it is quite spot-on, when a serious failure of certain components occurs. This approach needs to change, as the new trolleybuses and trams will quickly turn into the same ones that ran 10 years ago.

Another considerable, in fact the main problem of organizing the work of urban public transport is its financing. Often, deputies, mayors or heads of communal enterprises believe that municipal carriers should not be unprofitable, but profitable. At the same time, forgetting that their only source of income is the sale of tickets to pay for travel. Demyan Danilyuk, an expert on public transport from the NGO Vision Zero , claims that the government should adopt a special program for the development of public transport, and the parliament should vote for it in the state budget. It would support the purchase of rolling stock at the expense of the state and local budgets, and the cities, in return, would have to take loans from international financial organizations to modernize the infrastructure. Our cities will not be able to make progress on their own, and this sector will continue to decline.

You can read more opinions expressed by all the participants of the round table in the material of the Center for Transport Strategies.

On June 9, 2023, members of the NGO "Vision Zero" arrived in Chernivtsi to receive up-to-date information about the operation of the city's public transport, its existing problems and challenges.

We managed to communicate with representatives of local self-government bodies there - deputy mayors Igor Krokhmal, Yevhen Makhovikov and director of the transport department Ludmila Svyrida. Based on the results of this meeting, we learned from them about the state of public transport in Chernivtsi and already implemented projects.

Lyudmila Svyrida said that private carriers still dominate the bus transport market of Chernivtsi, their share is 73% against 17% of buses of the communal carrier . Cooperation of Chernivtsi with private carriers is atypical compared to other cities. In particular, the city council provided for the operation of so-called "discounted routes". There is a rule that provides for 30% of seats free of charge for preferential categories of passengers. After that, private carriers receive compensation for them from the city budget.

Deputy Mayor Yevhen Mahovikov noted that the Chernivtsi Community Passenger Transport Development Program and Electric Transport Development Program are active in the city. They provide for the development of public transport, in particular electric, to improve the quality of transport.

Another important project that has already been successfully implemented in buses and trolleybuses of the KP Chernivtsi Trolleybus Administration is the introduction of the "electronic ticket" system . Validators are placed in vehicles for payment of travel by transport and bank card. The use of cash was completely excluded from the payment methods. Private carriers are not yet connected to the system.

During the meeting at the Chernivtsi Trolleybus Administration KP, its director Petro Lysak told how the work of the enterprise is currently being transformed. The city authorities are betting on further dominance in the transportation market. The main thing is to update the rolling stock. In recent years, Dnipro T203 trolleybuses with batteries for driving areas without a contact network and PTS-12 have been purchased for ChTU.

Also, Petro Lysak believes that the buses received by KP "ChTU" are a transitional period in order to ensure better regularity of public transport already now. In the future, electric transport will develop more and more. In his opinion, 80% of routes in the city could be covered by trolleybuses. However, this requires renewal of at least 70% of the rolling stock (old cars), as well as the purchase of additional vehicles. In addition, there is a need to complete and rebuild the contact network to enable the movement of trolleybuses in additional directions.

In the end, Petro Lysak noted that despite all the positive changes, there is an acute shortage of drivers and technical personnel for the maintenance of buses and trolleybuses in the KP "ChTU". They are trying to correct this by raising wages, improving working conditions, and encouraging students from vocational colleges to complete internships at the enterprise with further employment.

A couple of days ago, the Lviv tram celebrated its next birthday! This tram system is the first on the territory of modern Ukraine . From 1880 to 1908, horse traction was used for tram transportation in Lviv, and from 1894, the first electric trams appeared.

Photo: Volodymyr Karaim

The tram network of Lviv has gone through a long path of transformations or, on the contrary, crisis periods of work, in particular:

- complete closure of horse traction in 1908; - significant damage to the tram industry as a result of the First and Second World Wars; - the appearance on the routes of a considerable number of different and newer brands of rolling stock after 1950; - during the restoration of Ukraine's independence, new routes appeared, in particular, the largest project is the "tram to Sikhiv".

Photo: Volodymyr Karaim

A separate "highlight" of the Lviv tram is the celebration of the anniversaries of the beginning of its operation. Since 2014, LKP "Lvivelectrotrans" has started holding almost annual thematic celebrations with a diverse program. This year, on June 4 , it was an inspection of trams that were still in operation in the 20th century. and are now museum exhibits on the territory of the depot for all who are interested. Guests could sit in the salons of these trams, in their cabins and take photos. You can also hear the stories of connoisseurs of Lviv tram history, a festive orchestra and a special route complete the picture.

Many clarifications about the Lviv tram were made in the corresponding article in the Ukrainian "Wikipedia" by specialists of our public organization. We invite you to study the article and once again sincerely congratulate the Lviv tram!