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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Before proposing the idea of free travel in Kyiv and replacing the metro with buses, the central government should allocate money for this and calculate the number of vehicles and people needed. It has already "taken care" of the resilience plan by blocking it for half a year; now it has set its sights on public transport.
This is how Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko commented on the president's proposals regarding transport connections in the capital.
Klitschko spoke about the shortage of drivers in Kyiv
Vitali Klitschko emphasized that the city already has buses that can be mobilized, but he asked whether the government will find drivers and funds to implement the program.
There are no drivers! Maybe the police will round them up, like they did the electricians? And about the funds for the "free" travel. Maybe the government should first return the subsidy owed to Kyiv for 11 years for free transport for beneficiaries? That already amounts to more than 8 billion hryvnias. In short, the central government "handled" Kyiv's resilience plan by successfully blocking it for half a year. Now it has taken on public transport.
– wrote Vitali Klitschko.
The mayor noted that after stopping electric transport, the number of bus routes has already been increased to 129, and the number of buses to 418, on which 685 drivers work. But to fully replace the metro, the city needs 1020 buses.
Currently, the municipal enterprise "Kyivpastrans" has the capacity to additionally increase the number of buses by 25 units (technically serviceable and ready to go into service). To do this, it is necessary to engage at least 50 additional category D drivers. In addition to having to undergo route training, the enterprise, due to a designated limit, cannot book new drivers.
– the mayor said.
Klitschko also recalled that to date Kyiv's public transport already carries for free more than 1 million passengers, whose benefits are supposed to be "provided" by the state.
As reported, on 8 November, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he had instructed the government to prepare a program of free travel on Kyiv's surface public transport and a sufficient reserve of buses.
It is known that the central government delayed approving Kyiv's resilience plan and allocating funds for its implementation for 5 months. Klitschko first presented the document at an NSDC meeting on 3 March, and it was approved only on 5 August 2026. At the same time, the project budget was reduced by almost half — from 67 billion hryvnias to 37 billion.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item ""Водіїв нам наловить поліція?" – Кличко різко відреагував на ідею безоплатного проїзду у Києві". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
