Supply of trolleybuses in 2024: the worst rate in 15 years
PTS T123 trolleybus (VinLine) in Vinnytsia. Photo: Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morgunov's page
By the end of 2024, only 15% of the cities controlled by Ukraine renewed their rolling stock. They received 34 units of trolleybuses, which is 10 times less than the level of supply in 2020. The result of 2024 is the worst in the last 15 years, and significantly lower than in the previous two years.
This is reported by the public organization “Vision Zero” with reference to data from the public transport portal Alltransua.
In total, four cities out of 27 received new vehicles, which is 15%. These are Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Vinnytsia, and Ivano-Frankivsk.
The undisputed leader in 2024 was Mykolaiv, where 19 battery-powered PTS T123 trolleybuses were put on the streets. They were purchased with a loan from the EBRD and a grant from the Danish government. Thanks to this, Mykolaivelectrotrans opened a new trolleybus route to the remote and densely populated Korabelnyi district without building a contact network. The trolleybuses serve it in the mode of electric buses, thanks to powerful traction batteries.
In Chernihiv, four battery trolleybuses from the local manufacturer Etalon T122, purchased at the expense of the city budget, have been put into operation. This purchase made it possible to open a new “hybrid” route No. 1, which provided a connection between the city center and remote neighborhoods.
Vinnytsia took delivery of five PTS T123 units (VinLine). These battery-powered trolleybuses were built by the Vinnytsia Transport Company municipal enterprise in cooperation with Politechnoservice LLC on the basis of a Turkish manufacturer's body.
Ivano-Frankivsk received six used Škoda 24Tr trolleybuses from the Czech city of Jihlava, which were donated to the city as humanitarian aid.
“34 trolleybuses per year is extremely low. This is about 1% of the entire trolleybus fleet. The life cycle of a trolleybus in the EU is 20 years, and even less in Ukraine. Therefore, just to maintain the situation at the current level, at least 5-7% of trolleybuses need to be renewed annually, which is about 140-150 units per year,” comments Viktor Zagreba, Chairman of the Board of the NGO Vision Zero. “If we want to see not only the survival but also the development of electric transport, in line with Ukraine's climate and transport goals, then we consider at least 350 units per year to be a sufficient rate of renewal, and not just in a few cities, but in all.”
New hybrid trolleybuses in Mykolaiv in 2024. Photo: Municipal enterprise “Mykolaivelectrotrans”
As of January 2024, according to estimates by the NGO Vision Zero based on data from the Ukrelectrotrans Corporation, the total number of trolleybuses registered with transport utilities in the territories controlled by Ukraine (27 cities) was 2842 units. Ukraine has the largest number of trolleybus systems in Europe. Ukraine is followed by Italy (17 cities with trolleybuses), the Czech Republic (14), and Switzerland (13).