Mykolaiv has made it onto the list of cities with the cheapest public transport fares: how much do people pay across Ukraine?

A view of Mykolaiv. Illustrative photo: Mykolaiv City Council

Mykolaiv remains one of the Ukrainian cities with the most affordable public transport fares. Despite the increase in fares for electric transport, travel within the city is still cheaper than in most regional centres.

This is according to an analysis by «Slovo i Dilo». It notes that as of March 2026, the cost of travel in Ukrainian cities varies significantly depending on the mode of transport and the region.

How much does travel cost on minibuses and trams across Ukraine? Infographic: Slovo i Dilo

In Mykolaiv, travel on minibuses costs 15–20 hryvnias — this is the average for major cities. At the same time, trams and trolleybuses remain among the cheapest: a ticket costs 8 hryvnias when paid via QR code or at a kiosk, and 10 hryvnias when paid to the driver.

By comparison, in Odesa, a minibus journey costs around 20 hryvnias, and a tram ticket costs 15 hryvnias. Meanwhile, in Kyiv, a minibus journey costs an average of 20 hryvnias, and the metro costs 8 hryvnias, whereas in Dnipro, the metro costs 10 hryvnias.

Although it is noted that the highest minibus fares are in Kharkiv — 25–30 hryvnias — public transport (metro, trams, trolleybuses and some buses) has been free in the city since May 2022.

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High fares for minibus services are also recorded in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia, where prices reach 17–25 hryvnias. The cheapest minibus journey is in Kherson — just 8 hryvnias.

As for electric transport, trams and trolleybuses remain the most expensive in Lviv — up to 25 hryvnias per journey. In Ivano-Frankivsk, fares range from 15 to 20 hryvnias, and in Zaporizhzhia, as in Odesa, they are 15 hryvnias.

In contrast, in a number of cities, including Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Lutsk and Khmelnytskyi, fares range from 6 to 9 hryvnias.

It is worth recalling that Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council from the ‘Servant of the People’ party, proposed making travel on public transport free for all city residents.

As is known, back in 2021, a proposal was made in Mykolaiv to make travel on municipal electric transport free. At the time, Fedir Panchenko, chair of the city council’s budget committee, stated that the city already allocates funds from the budget to the municipal enterprise Mykolaivelektrotrans every year, and that the company earns only about 10% of its required revenue from ticket sales.

In 2018, Mykolaiv politician Oleksandr Sadikov, who was a member of the executive committee at the time, also proposed abolishing fares on the city’s public transport.

It should be noted that free public transport in Kharkiv, which was introduced in May 2022, is set to remain in place even after the war ends. This was stated by the Mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.