Buses & Trolleybuses

With only 3 metro lines, if you need access any of the more suburban areas you need to take road transport. In order of speed, your choices are:

• Marshrutkas – Very fast, but not comfortable.
• Trams – Quick, but only a few routes
• Buses – Free WiFi and often.
• Trolleybuses – Quiet, but limited to certain routes and can’t overtake.

While not as quick as Marshrutkas, buses and trolleybuses are the reliable and staple choice of many locals.

How to Use

Plan your route on Google maps to find your closest bus stop and go and wait. Unlike in other countries, you don’t need to put your hand out to stop the bus or press a button to tell the driver you want to get off, the buses simply stop at every stop.

The price of a single trip on a bus is 8 UAH regardless of the length of the trip.

When you get on the bus you have a few choices of payment:

• Cash – Find the conductor who often has a designated seat near the door and give them the fare. They will then give you a ticket which you need to stamp at one of the stamping machines on the bus. If there is no conductor, you can buy a ticket from the driver.
• Kyiv Smart Card – Simply tap your card on the orange validator and sit down. Don’t be surprised if the conductor shouts at you and asks you to pay, simply wave your smart card at them and they will leave you alone.

EasyWay – Where’s the bus?

Officially each route has a timetable, but it’s rare they are taken seriously. Bus drivers seem to ignore these and just go at semi-regular intervals. Most routes are often running every 10 to 15 minutes, but some longer routes they can be only once an hour.

The best and easiest way to check if your bus will come (and when) is to use the EasyWay application either online, Android App or iPhone App. From this you can see all buses on a route and their location (they all have GPS). The other way to use the application is to select your bus stop and it’ll show live times of all routes that stop there and when the next bus will come (look out for the live times in green). Google maps uses the same data source, but Easyway gives you more data and tells you exactly where your bus is.

Don’t take these times as gospel though as buses can often disappear mid-route as they go to a depot!