Mykolaiv will spend over ₴443 million on tram and trolleybus operations for 10 months

Autonomous trolleybuses running around the city. Photo: NikVesti

The executive committee of the Mykolaiv City Council will spend 443.2 million hryvnias on passenger transport by trams and trolleybuses during 10 months of 2026.

This is evidenced by data from the Prozorro public procurement system, according to NikVesti.

The procurement was carried out without using the electronic system, and the contract was concluded directly with the municipal enterprise Mykolaivelektrotrans. The justification states that this enterprise is the only one in the city that provides passenger transport services by electric transport.

The total cost of the contract is 443 million 270 thousand 270 hryvnias. Passenger transport services will be provided on 12 trolleybus and 6 tram routes until 31 October 2026.

Screenshot of tender documentation from the Prozorro public procurement system

Screenshot of tender documentation from the Prozorro public procurement system

Screenshot of tender documentation from the Prozorro public procurement system

As a reminder, the city council estimated that free travel on trams and trolleybuses would cost around 74 million hryvnias per year.

Yurii Smetana, director of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivelektrotrans, also said that in 2026, the total cost of maintaining electric transport will be 798 million hryvnias. Currently, the enterprise covers part of these costs from its own revenues, primarily from ticket sales.

It should be noted that in 2026, it is proposed to allocate 189.5 million hryvnias to compensate for travel for privileged categories on public transport in Mykolaiv.

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Free travel

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

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

It should be noted that free public transport in Kharkiv, which was introduced in May 2022, is planned 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.

In 2025, the city council returned to this issue. Deputy Tetiana Dombrovska. At a session on 31 October, she proposed making public transport free for all city residents. The director of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivpastrans, Dmytro Teslenko, replied that this could only be implemented if the city budget fully and promptly reimbursed the enterprise's expenses.