Some intercity carriers are already renovating their bus fleets Business

Mažeikiai bus park is preparing to buy two such buses, not older than 8 years. Their total price should reach 360 thousand. euros. Panevėžys and Širvinto bus parks will also buy two such buses each.

Edvardas Milevičius, director of the Mažeikiai company, told BNS that the two oldest buses will no longer be suitable from next year, so they want to replace them with newer ones that meet the requirements of the law.

“It is necessary to update the bus fleet (…), because from 2026 we will no longer be able to drive with buses older than 10 years old (buses – BNS), and today we cannot drive with buses older than 14 years,” E. Milevičius told BNS.

According to the head of the company, the buses are planned to be purchased from the company’s funds, and in order to renew even more in the future, additional funding will be needed.

The Panevėžys bus park is also preparing to purchase intercity buses. The tender announced by him was won by the commercial transport trading company “Adampolis”.

The director of the company, Arnoldas Grazys, says that from now on the buses will be updated more often.

“Lithuania is not as rich a country as the Scandinavians or Western Europe. The age of the buses of all carriers, I think, was a little higher than 10 years (…). Adapting to all requirements will require carriers to update their equipment,” A. Gražys told BNS.

The Mayor of Širvintos, Živilė Pinskuvienė, says that the district’s bus fleet is almost renewed – four new buses were bought last year, which are already serving passengers, and a tender is currently underway for the purchase of two more new buses.

“It seems to me that the little ones (carriers – BNS) are being strangled, they have to close, everything has to go into big hands, but we will hold on as long as we can,” the mayor told BNS.

After a 15-year concession contract, the Širvintos municipality took back the Širvintos bus fleet in 2023.

Large passenger transport companies will also have to renew their bus fleets. “Kautra” director Linas Skardziuk told BNS that this will be a challenge for all carriers, and he does not know if the sector is ready for such a qualitative leap.

“The future is very uncertain, there is no stability in understanding how this long-distance transport should develop,” he told BNS.

“We are preparing, doing what we can, but we are very tense. Financiers and the banking market are also tense,” Gintautas Pakusas, marketing director of “Kautras”, told BNS.

The marketing director said that this year Kautra has already purchased 20 new buses adapted for people with disabilities.

Gintaras Nakutis, president of the Lithuanian Passenger Transport Association (LKVA), told BNS that the situation in the carriers’ market has basically not changed since July last year.

“There is the same situation, the same routes, the same flights as in July 2023 – that is, 230 routes and 615 flights. Everything should remain the same. The carriers cannot change it themselves, they are committed to work until the end of this year,” said the president of LKVA.

According to him, after the amendments to the Road Transport Code were adopted last year, carriers had little time to decide whether to invest in the purchase of new vehicles and continue working.

Amendments to the code that entered into force in July 2023 obliged carriers to renew their bus fleets – long-distance buses must be no older than 14 years, and from 2026 – no older than 10 years.