More than ₴700 million from Mykolaiv's budget is needed to operate trams and trolleybuses

For the operation of the city's electric transport in 2026, 720 million hryvnias must be allocated from the budget of Mykolaiv.

These calculations were announced at a meeting of the planning and budget commission of the city council on 26 December by Yurii Smetana, director of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivelectrotrans», NikVesti reports.

According to him, the minimum requirement of the enterprise for the next year is 540 million hryvnias — this is funding under the contract «hryvnia per kilometre». Separately, another 90 million hryvnias should be provided for the repayment of a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the first quarter.

The main expense item is salaries and wages, with 306 million hryvnias planned to be spent on this. Electricity costs will amount to 209 million hryvnias, fuel costs — 6.4 million hryvnias, and the purchase of tyres for trolleybuses — 6 million hryvnias. An additional 6 million hryvnias will be needed to install a fire alarm system in the tram depot. 2.8 million hryvnias is allocated for the payment of preferential pensions.

The company plans to cover all other current expenses from its own earnings. In 2026, they are expected to reach 82 million hryvnias, of which 74 million hryvnias is revenue from the sale of travel tickets. The company also receives part of the funds from the lease of poles, advertising services, and vehicle rental.

The company currently employs 830 people. «Mykolaivelectrotrans» operates 69 kilometres of tram infrastructure, 130 kilometres of overhead lines and 13 traction substations in different parts of the city.

A total of 177.9 million hryvnias is planned to be allocated to repay the loan in 2026, with another 540 million hryvnias to ensure the company's operations. The deputies clarified that the utility company is requesting 716 million hryvnias from the city budget, and taking into account its own revenues, the total annual budget will be 798 million hryvnias.

«This means that the maintenance of our electric transport will cost almost 800 million hryvnias for all citizens next year,» summed up Fedor Panchenko, chairman of the budget committee.

The discussion also touched upon the issue of salaries. Yurii Smetana said that the average salary at the enterprise now exceeds 28,000 hryvnias. After the minimum wage is raised on 1 January, it will increase by about 10% to about 31,000 hryvnias per month. He explained that the average salary is formed taking into account additional payments and overtime, in particular for drivers who work by the hour.

The deputies also asked about the costs of conductors and the ticketing system. There are 72 employees involved in selling tickets and travel passes: 42 controllers, 5 cashiers at the main ticket office and 25 sellers at kiosks. The salaries of the kiosk sellers cost the company 2.3 million hryvnias a year.

In 9 months of 2025, revenue from ticket sales totalled 44 million hryvnias. Of this amount, 22 million hryvnias was generated by ticket sales by drivers, 7 million hryvnias by kiosks, and another 15 million hryvnias by fare payments via QR codes. The cost of maintaining the ticketing system for this period was about 14 million hryvnias, said Yurii Smetana.

During the discussion, the deputies returned to the idea of free travel in electric transport. According to preliminary estimates, the city would need to additionally allocate about 74 million hryvnias for this purpose — the amount that the company currently receives from ticket sales.

«In fact, we need to add 74 million hryvnias to compensate for what the company receives from ticket sales. We are keeping this figure in mind and will look at it when considering the budget,» said Fedir Panchenko.

As a reminder, KP «Mykolaivelectrotrans» is looking for investors to upgrade its tram fleet. The project requires 1.6 billion hryvnias.