The number of public transit buses has been reduced in Odesa. More trolleybuses and trams have been put into service on the routes, duplicating some of the bus routes. Due to this competition, the revenue target is not being met.
This was discussed at a meeting of the Odessa City Council’s Standing Committee on Transportation and Road Infrastructure.
A representative of the Department of Transportation was asked why the city had reduced the number of public buses, particularly on routes where there are no tram or trolleybus services.
The Department of Transportation explained that social buses were removed from some routes due to an increase in the number of electric vehicles produced by the municipal enterprise “OMET.”
“Where there were no trams or trolleybuses, social buses are now operating,” noted the department representative.
One of the city council members pointed out that social buses are inclusive and convenient for passengers, and cutting them back could benefit private transit operators.
“People are just starting to get used to normal public transportation, and now we’re removing high-quality, inclusive buses that are truly needed. And people are saying that this is great transportation—we should be using it,” they emphasized during the meeting.
A department representative acknowledged that public transit should remain on the city’s streets. At the same time, he explained that some of the routes overlap with routes already served by trams and trolleybuses.
According to him, this overlap causes problems with private carriers as well—they complain about failing to meet revenue targets due to competition with city transit.
Council members questioned the wisdom of this approach and proposed, instead, using public buses to compete with minibuses.
“We have 25 high-quality buses; they need to be in service. They must run every day so that people can use them,” they noted during the discussion.
The meeting also included a separate discussion of the new long trams. A department representative reported that they are already in use on one of the routes.
