Buses in Vilnius

The Vilnius bus network operates bus lines in Lithuanian capital city Vilnius. Up to 420 buses are working on working-days, 250 - on weekends.

History

On November 18, 1945, the Vilnius Bus Company, which buspark was succeeded by 17 old German and Soviet military buses. On March 13, the new regular bus line Žvėrynas - Railway Station, after all, other two lines were opened.

In 1964, the new depot of the existing bus fleet was built in Verkių street.

In 1995, the company was registered as a limited liability company Vilniaus autobusų parkas.

In 2003, company was renamed to Vilniaus autobusai.

In 2004, 90 new Volvo 7700 and Volvo 7700A buses were bought.

In 2011 Vilniaus Autobusai was joined with the trolleybus company Vilniaus Troleibusai and reorganised to Vilniaus viešasis transportas.

After the 2013 bus and trolleybus route reform, selected buses were stored at the second trolleybus depot in Viršuliškės. Also, due to lack of minibuses after the said reform, 12 Koch minibuses were purchased second-hand from Jelgava.

In 2013 and 2014, 19 Solaris Urbino 12 III CNG, 18 MAN A21 Lion's City NL273 CNG and 20 Castrosua City Versus CNG buses were bought.

From 2014 to 2017, several bus routes were handed out to private operators Transrevis, Ridvija which operated minibus routes and Meteorit Turas.

In 2017, a bus renewal period started, which lasted until the end of 2020. Many old buses were scrapped, some older buses were repainted and many new ones were purchased. These include:

15 MAN A21 Lion's City NL273 and 15 MAN A23 Lion's City GL NG313 buses (second-hand from Oslo, which were originally built in 2008); 100 Solaris Urbino 12 IV buses; 50 Solaris Urbino 18 IV buses; 50 MAN A23 Lion's City G NG313 CNG buses; 10 Anadolu Isuzu Novo Citi Life buses; 5 Karsan Jest Electric buses.

The private operators Ridvija and Meteorit Turas no longer operated any routes though Transrevis was given even more of them and replaced its buses with new ones:

50 Scania Citywide LFA buses; 70 Anadolu Isuzu Citibus buses.

List of operated buses +List of currently operated busesUnitsBus modelBuilt inUsed sinceNotes100Solaris Urbino 12 IV2018201850MAN A23 Lion's City G NG313 CNG2020202050Solaris Urbino 18 IV2018201820Castrosua City Versus CNG2014201419Solaris Urbino 12 III CNG2013201318MAN A21 Lion's City NL273 CNG2013201315MAN A21 Lion's City NL27320082017Second-hand15MAN A23 Lion's City GL NG31320082017Second-hand10Anadolu Isuzu Novo Citi Life201920199Neoplan N4421/3 Centroliner20002014Second-hand8MAN A23 NG31320002015Second-hand6Fiat Ducato Maxi ALTAS201120115Karsan Jest Electric20192019Electric3Mercedes-Benz Sprinter NOGE20062013Second-hand, currently not operating2Neoplan N4407 Centroliner20002011Second-hand1Castrosua Tempus Hybrid20142014Currently not operating +List of service busesUnitsBus modelBuilt inNotes2Citroen Jumper2011Used for transporting bus drivers, rarely carries passengers2VanHool A5081988Used for jumpstarting buses1Daewoo Lublin 35142000Purpose not known1DAF MB200 HORTEN1985Used for towing broken-down vehicles1Mercedes-Benz O405N21995The bus has mounted trolleybus connectors, they're used for removing snow from trolleybuses wires1Peugeot Boxer2001Used for transporting bus drivers, rarely carries passengers +List of formerly operated buses (Note: this list doesn't contain some old buses which were scrapped a long time ago)Bus modelBuilt inUsed untilNotesBerkhof Jonckheer-G20002018Second-hand, now operated as Vilnius Airport service buses.Carrus K204 City L19972018Second-handCastrosua CS4019952020Second-handMercedes-Benz 1117L Ernst Auwärter Clubstar19862020Second-hand, mainly service bus, rarely carried passengersHeuliez GX217 CNG19982015Second-handHeuliez GX417 CNG19992019Second-handKarosa B73219972018Karosa B74119952018Karosa B84119992018One bus (the world's last Karosa B841) was transported to the Karosa museum in PragueMAN A11 NG26219972020Second-handMAN A11 NG27219942018Second-handMAN A11 NG31219982020Second-handMAN A15 NL232 CNG19972014Second-handMAN A18 NG232 CNG19962017Second-handMAN A23 NG26320002019Second-handMAN A23 NG313 CNG19982019Second-handMercedes-Benz O40519862019Second-handMercedes-Benz O405G19902020Second-handMercedes-Benz O405GN19932020Second-handMercedes-Benz O405GN219952016Second-handMercedes-Benz O405GN2 CNG19952016Second-handMercedes-Benz O405N2 CNG19982016Second-handMercedes-Benz O405N2Ü CNG19962016Second-handMercedes-Benz O520 Cito19992017Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro20032020Neoplan N4021/3NF19942018Second-handMercedes-Benz O405 Ramseier & Jenzer19872018Second-handSäffle 500019962018Second-handSäffle System 200019962018Second-handKarosa B83219982018Bus #302 stood in the depot until May 2022, when it was sold to a scrap metal companyVolvo 770020042024Volvo 7700a20042024

Night bus The night bus route network in Vilnius was designed in 2006 to allow a safe journey from the city centre to the most densely populated neighbourhoods. At first the routes operates on all nights, however due to financial crisis, they were discontinued. At first, all tickets were valid on night buses, but starting from December 2006, night tickets were introduced, which could be purchased on the bus and no discounts were valid. In 2015 night buses were brought back on Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday nights. In 2018, route 88N was introduced to transport passengers between Vilnius airport and the city center. In 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic, all night routes were discontinued, but 88N would be brought back the Summer of the same year. Other night routes were brought back in July 2022, it was an experiment to see if the ridership was big enough to resume operation, the final day of operation was September 4th. No further announcements were made regarding the change and the only regular night bus route in Vilnius is 88N. Rest of the night routes are only brought back for special events. +Night bus routes in VilniusNumberRouteNotes88NAirport–Center–Europe squareIntroduced in 2018101NSaulėtekis–Žygimantų st.–Savanorių av.–Laisvės av.–Fabijoniškės102NPilaitė–Žvėrynas–Žygimantų st.–Maironio st.–Bus station103NSantariškės–Didlaukio st.–Kalvarijų st.–Pylimo st.–Bus station–Gerosios Vilties st104NAteities st.–Žirmūnų st.–Pylimo st.–Naujininkai105NPašilaičiai–Šeškinė–Konstitucijos av.–Žygimantų st.–Olandų st.–Pavilnys–Parko st106NLiepkalnis–Bus station–Pylimo st.–Green bridge (Žaliasis tiltas)Only operated on 2014/07/04-05 and 2018/07/04-05

References

External links Official website