A 30-hryvnia fare in Kyiv: a petition against the new fares has gathered signatures in a matter of hours
The text of the petition has been published on the Kyiv City State Administration website.
New fares: what’s in store for passengers
The reason for the public outcry was the intention, officially announced on 18 May, to introduce a new fare model for Kyiv’s public transport. The plan is to launch it as early as 15 July 2026, immediately after all regulatory procedures have been completed.
The proposal involves a radical overhaul of the fare structure: the cost of a single ticket will jump to 30 UAH, whilst the price per journey using a travel card will range between 25 and 30 UAH.
In addition, a 90-minute transfer ticket costing 60 UAH will be introduced, whilst an unlimited monthly pass will cost a record 4,875 UAH.
Why Kyiv residents are against it: the community’s arguments
The author of the petition, Oleksii Ksenich, emphasises that this is not a cosmetic adjustment, but a sharp increase in the cost of a basic urban service under martial law, when people’s incomes are extremely unstable.
A blow to the wallet: For low-wage earners, students, displaced persons and pensioners, the new fares will be crippling. For example, the new monthly unlimited travel pass (4,875 UAH) could eat up more than half the monthly income of someone on the minimum wage.
Examples from other cities: The petition points out that during the war, Kharkiv made public transport completely free for passengers, whilst in Dnipro, Lviv and Odesa, fares are significantly more reasonable.
There is an alternative: Kyiv’s budget is one of the largest in the country, so the city has the financial capacity to subsidise transport rather than shifting the burden of public transport operators entirely onto passengers.
What is being demanded of the Kyiv City Council
The community has put forward a clear list of demands to the city councillors:
- To formally appeal to the Kyiv City State Administration and ban the introduction of a fare of 30 UAH per journey and a travel pass costing 4,875 UAH until the end of the war.
- To oblige officials to publish actual economic calculations of the cost price and cost structure.
- To conduct a public independent audit of the Kyivpastrans and Kyiv Metro municipal enterprises.
- Find alternative sources of transport funding through the city budget and by optimising inefficient expenditure or questionable procurement.
Now that the petition has reached 102% of the required number of votes, the ball is in the court of the capital’s mayor and the relevant committees of the Kyiv City Council.
30 UAH fare in Kyiv: petition against new fares gathered votes in a matter of hours The petition gathered the required 6,000 votes in less than a day (screenshot)
How much does a journey currently cost in Kyiv
Fixed fares for passenger transport are currently in force on Kyiv’s public transport. The following prices apply during normal service:
- 8.00 UAH – a journey on the metro, bus, tram, trolleybus and funicular;
- 14.99 UAH – travel on the city railway.
Passengers can also choose from a range of travel passes, where the final price depends on the number of journeys purchased.
Residents can choose season tickets for a full calendar month or for two weeks, and can also optimise their spending by purchasing a season ticket for a single mode of transport or a combined option.
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