There are plans to increase trolleybus fares by 50% in Mykolaiv

Trolleybuses in Mykolaiv, photo: ‘NikVesti’

Mykolaiv plans to increase trolleybus fares: to 15 hryvnias for a paper ticket and 12 hryvnias for a ticket purchased using a QR code.

Yurii Smetana, director of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivelektrotrans, announced this in a comment to NikVesti.

He explained that in 2025, the economically justified fare for the company should be 22 hryvnias per paying passenger, and for the first quarter of 2026 — 26 hryvnias 35 kopecks.

«In the first quarter, there was a significant increase in the cost of electricity and fuel and lubricants, and wages have changed,» explained Yurii Smetana.

The municipal enterprise has now approached the executive committee with a proposal to increase fares on the city’s electric transport.

«We have managed to submit our calculations to the executive committee. As of today, we have proposed the following figures: 15 hryvnias for a paper ticket, 12 hryvnias for a ticket purchased via a QR code. Currently, we charge 10 hryvnias for a paper ticket and 8 hryvnias via QR code,» said Yurii Smetana.

However, even the new fare currently being proposed is not economically viable for the company.

«According to our figures, it is not economically justified, but I would like to thank the city councillors for supporting the allocation of funds under the «hryvnia per kilometre» agreement. And if everything goes well and they are able to allocate funds to us for the 11th and 12th months of 2026, then we will not be raising the fare any further this year. Well, or if there is no rise in electricity or fuel prices,» he added.

Since the start of 2026, the city council’s executive committee has transferred a total of 128.1 million hryvnias to the account of Mykolaivelektrotrans, according to data from the public spending monitoring website Spending.gov.ua. On average, this amounts to 32 million hryvnias per month. The payment description states that it is for urban electric transport services. In fact, this is compensation for the travel of people in priority categories. Annually, this amounts to approximately 384 million hryvnias.

Since the start of the year, the executive committee has transferred 128.1 million hryvnias to Mykolaivelektrotrans, screenshot from the Spending.gov.ua website

It is worth noting that Mykolaivelektrotrans is one of the city’s municipal enterprises that has received the largest contributions to its authorised capital over the last two years. For Mykolaivelektrotrans, this amount totalled 212 million hryvnias. Read more about this in the article by NikVesti «Mykolaiv has invested 1.7 billion hryvnias in municipal enterprises over two years: where did the money go?».

As a reminder, the fare for minibuses in Mykolaiv may increase. The cost of journeys is set to rise to 20 hryvnias from 27 April.