Odesmiskelektrotrans was able to use only half of the transport

Odesmiskelectrotrans has managed to launch only 50% of the trams and 45% of the trolleybuses it has in stock.

Mykola Lytovchuk, director of the utility, told the Standing Committee on Transport and Roads that the increase or decrease in rolling stock on the routes depends on the distribution operator, DTEK Odesa Power Grids.

"DTEK allows us to either add more rolling stock or, on the contrary, reduce it in some areas. If there is any force majeure," he explained.

Mr. Litovchuk also noted that the electric vehicles purchased with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were operating on the North-South route, but they are currently in the depot because these trams consume more electricity than single-section cars.

"We hope to be able to put them on the route in the near future, but it depends on DTEK. At the moment, we can launch either two single-section trams or one three-section tram. The three-section trams consume more electricity, and it will take longer to wait for them because we have five trams running, and there will be two large ones," he explained.

On March 28, Odesa electric transport started running in test mode after a long period of forced downtime and is now operating as it did before the New Year.

On December 31, 2025, the head of the Odesa City Administration, Serhiy Lysak, said that due to a shortage of electricity, trams and trolleybuses in Odesa were not yet operating at night that day, when Russians massively attacked Odesa. In the evening of the same day, the mayors of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, and Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevych, announced that they had sent buses to Odesa to replace trams and trolleybuses on the city streets. Subsequently, buses arrived from other regions, with the last batch of five vehicles arriving on February 28, 2026.

Кирило Бойко