Vilnius Public Transport

"Vilnius Transport

Motorways

Vilnius is the starting point of the Vilnius-Kaunas-Klaipėda motorway that runs across Lithuania and connects the three major cities. The Vilnius-Panevėžys motorway is a branch of the Via-Baltica. Though the river Neris is navigable at this point, no regular water routes exist. Vilnius International Airport serves most Lithuanian international flights to many major European destinations. The Vilnius railway station is an important hub as well.

Public Transport

Vilnius has a well-developed public transportation system. There are over 60 bus and 20 trolleybus routes, the trolleybus network is one of the biggest in Europe. Over 250 buses and 260 trolleybuses transport about 500,000 passengers every workday. Students, elderly, and the disabled receive large discounts (up to 80%) on the tickets. A single ride ticket costs up to 1.40 litas (0,41 EUR) while monthly tickets cost 40-60 litas (14,50-17,40 EUR). The first regular bus routes were established in 1926, and the first trolleybus was introduced in 1956.

In the end of year 2007 a new electronic monthly ticket system was introduced. It is possible to buy an electronic card in shops and newspaper stands and fill it with an appropriate amount of money. The prices for the monthly e-ticket are the same as for the paper tickets. The monthly e-ticket cards are bought once and might be filled with an appropriate amount of money in various ways including the Internet. Currently the monthly e-ticket system co-exists with paper monthly tickets until August 2008 when a new system for electronic one-time tickets will be introduced.

The public transportation system is dominated by the brand new low-floor Volvo and Mercedes-Benz buses as well as Solaris trolleybuses. The new Solaris vehicles (built in Poland) are 15 m long three-axle vehicles. There are also plenty of the traditional Skoda vehicles built in Czech Republic still in service, and many of these have been extensively refurbished internally. All is a result of major improvements that started in 2003 when the first brand-new Mercedes-Benz buses were bought. In 2004, a contract was signed with Volvo Buses to buy 90 brand-new 7700 buses over the next 3 years. Along with the official public transportation, there are also a number of private bus companies. They charge about the same as the municipal buses and sometimes follow the same routes. There are also a number of different routes, for example from various neighborhoods to the Gariūnai market. In addition there are about 400 share taxis that are usually faster but less comfortable and more expensive (3litas — 0.87 EUR) than regular buses.

There are also plans to build a rapid transit system, Vilnius Metro."