A new municipal bus depot will be built in Lviv on Vernadskyi Street. The modern complex will serve as an additional technical base for routes in the Sykhiv direction and will help optimize the operation of public transport by reducing fuel costs and speeding up the deployment of buses onto routes. The project will be implemented with the support of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The new complex will include modern technical and service facilities, including an administrative building, a bus wash, a checkpoint, wastewater treatment facilities, and parking areas. This will ensure a full cycle of technical maintenance and storage of buses.

Visualizations of the future depot on Vernadskyi Street

The agreement to start construction works was signed today, December 10, at City Hall by Mykola Vlasiuk, Director of Lvivavtodor Municipal Enterprise, and Tetiana Pavlenko, Head of Welt Capital LLC.

“Thanks to the financing and support of the European Investment Bank, we are launching the construction of a bus depot that is critically important for Lviv in terms of traffic optimization, cost savings, and proper maintenance of the vehicle fleet,” said Andrii Moskalenko, First Deputy Mayor of Lviv.

City officials explain that the additional depot will help relieve the existing one and allow for better organization of operational work on some city routes. Currently, all municipal buses are stored at a single location. As a result, many buses make significant daily “deadhead” trips—traveling to their routes and back to the depot without passengers. Locating part of the fleet closer to the terminal points of the Sykhiv routes will reduce unnecessary mileage, significantly cut fuel costs, speed up bus deployment, and lower harmful emissions.

“Today, all municipal buses—about 240 vehicles daily—depart from one depot. Because of this, buses make substantial ‘deadhead’ runs to and from their routes. The new depot on Vernadskyi Street will allow us to deploy around 70 additional buses daily specifically for the Sykhiv direction and significantly reduce unnecessary mileage. The distance between the existing and future depots is about 15 km. This means that on ‘deadhead’ mileage alone we will save approximately UAH 1.5 million per month. Annually, these are very substantial savings,” explained Oleh Zabarylo, Head of the Lviv City Council’s Department of Urban Mobility and Street Infrastructure.

According to Lvivavtodor, the total cost of constructing the depot is €3.871 million (excluding VAT). The European Investment Bank is providing €3.3 million for construction works, with the remainder funded by the city.

“Why is it important for us to support such projects? Every day, Ukraine’s defenders are fighting not only for their homeland but also for the shared European future of the European Union and Ukraine as our most important future member. Green urban transport and energy-efficient infrastructure show that we are building even while the war continues. Later, under different conditions, we will be able to scale up and accelerate Ukraine’s accession to the EU. This project will be complemented by the procurement of 48 buses from a Ukrainian manufacturer. We are proud that Ukraine’s economic resilience allows us to cooperate and demonstrate that ‘Made in Ukraine’ works today,” said Kristina Mikulova, Head of the EIB Regional Representation for Eastern Europe.

The city expects to receive the first of these Electron-manufactured buses as early as next year, and they will be based at the depot on Vernadskyi Street.

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyy emphasized the importance of cooperation with international partners and the tangible results it brings.

“The past few months have shown how important cooperation with European institutions is, particularly with the European Investment Bank. We have an approved decision to purchase 48 buses that will be manufactured in Lviv—this means new jobs and tax revenues for the city. Recently, we signed an agreement to reconstruct Mazepy–Hrinchenka streets, a major thoroughfare that will significantly improve transport connections. And today we are talking about building a new bus depot. At the same time, we are constructing a biogas plant. I dream that in the future this biogas will become fuel for our buses. This is important for Lviv’s development as the green capital of Ukraine and, God willing, in the future—of Europe,” Andrii Sadovyy noted.

It should be added that Lviv Municipal Transport Company ATP-1 operates 28 routes used by more than 180,000 passengers, including about 60,000 beneficiaries.