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

Vilnius Buses
Founded1945
Headquarters52 Verkių gatvė54°43′15″N 25°17′45″E / 54.72083°N 25.29583°E / 54.72083; 25.29583
LocaleVilnius, Lithuania
Service typeBus service
Routes81
Daily ridership275,380 [citation needed]
Websitevilniausviesasistransportas.lt
Bus depot
Scania Citywide LFA bus in Vilnius
Bus in Vilnius, Anadolu Isuzu Citibus
Bus in Vilnius, Neoplan Centroliner

History

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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:

List of operated buses

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List of currently operated buses
Units Bus model Built in Used since Notes
8 VanHool A12 2024 2024 Battery-Electric
13 VanHool A18 2024 2024 Battery-Electric
100 Solaris Urbino 12 IV 2018 2018
50 MAN A23 Lion's City G NG313 CNG 2020 2020
50 Solaris Urbino 18 IV 2018 2018
20 Castrosua City Versus CNG 2014 2014
19 Solaris Urbino 12 III CNG 2013 2013
18 MAN A21 Lion's City NL273 CNG 2013 2013
15 MAN A21 Lion's City NL273 2008 2017 Second-hand
15 MAN A23 Lion's City GL NG313 2008 2017 Second-hand
10 Anadolu Isuzu Novo Citi Life 2019 2019
9 Neoplan N4421/3 Centroliner 2000 2014 Second-hand
8 MAN A23 NG313 2000 2015 Second-hand
6 Fiat Ducato Maxi ALTAS 2011 2011
5 Karsan Jest Electric 2019 2019 Electric
3 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter NOGE 2006 2013 Second-hand, currently not operating
2 Neoplan N4407 Centroliner 2000 2011 Second-hand
1 Castrosua Tempus Hybrid 2014 2014 Currently not operating
List of service buses
Units Bus model Built in Notes
2 Citroen Jumper 2011 Used for transporting bus drivers, rarely carries passengers
2 VanHool A508 1988 Purpose not known
1 Daewoo Lublin 3514 2000 Purpose not known
1 DAF MB200 HORTEN 1985 Used for towing broken-down vehicles
1 Mercedes-Benz O405N2 1995 The bus has mounted trolleybus connectors, they're used for removing snow from trolleybuses wires[1]
1 Peugeot Boxer 2001 Used 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 model Built in Used until Notes
Berkhof Jonckheer-G 2000 2018 Second-hand, now operated as Vilnius Airport service buses.
Carrus K204 City L 1997 2018 Second-hand
Castrosua CS40 1995 2020 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz 1117L Ernst Auwärter Clubstar 1986 2020 Second-hand, mainly service bus, rarely carried passengers
Heuliez GX217 CNG 1998 2015 Second-hand
Heuliez GX417 CNG 1999 2019 Second-hand
Karosa B732 1997 2018
Karosa B741 1995 2018
Karosa B841 1999 2018 One bus (the world's last Karosa B841) was transported to the Karosa museum in Prague
MAN A11 NG262 1997 2020 Second-hand
MAN A11 NG272 1994 2018 Second-hand
MAN A11 NG312 1998 2020 Second-hand
MAN A15 NL232 CNG 1997 2014 Second-hand
MAN A18 NG232 CNG 1996 2017 Second-hand
MAN A23 NG263 2000 2019 Second-hand
MAN A23 NG313 CNG 1998 2019 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405 1986 2019 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405G 1990 2020 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405GN 1993 2020 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405GN2 1995 2016 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405GN2 CNG 1995 2016 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405N2 CNG 1998 2016 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405N2Ü CNG 1996 2016 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O520 Cito 1999 2017
Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro 2003 2020
Neoplan N4021/3NF 1994 2018 Second-hand
Mercedes-Benz O405 Ramseier & Jenzer 1987 2018 Second-hand
Säffle 5000 1996 2018 Second-hand
Säffle System 2000 1996 2018 Second-hand
Karosa B832 1998 2018 Bus #302 stood in the depot until May 2022, when it was sold to a scrap metal company
Volvo 7700 2004 2024
Volvo 7700a 2004 2024

[2]

Night bus

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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.[3] 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 Vilnius
Number Route Notes
88N Airport–Center–Europe square Introduced in 2018
101N Saulėtekis–Žygimantų st.–Savanorių av.–Laisvės av.–Fabijoniškės
102N Pilaitė–Žvėrynas–Žygimantų st.–Maironio st.–Bus station
103N Santariškės–Didlaukio st.–Kalvarijų st.–Pylimo st.–Bus station–Gerosios Vilties st
104N Ateities st.–Žirmūnų st.–Pylimo st.–Naujininkai
105N Pašilaičiai–Šeškinė–Konstitucijos av.–Žygimantų st.–Olandų st.–Pavilnys–Parko st
106N Liepkalnis–Bus station–Pylimo st.–Green bridge (Žaliasis tiltas) Only operated on 2014/07/04-05 and 2018/07/04-05

References

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  1. ^ "Žiemą šaltis nebeparalyžiuos troleibusų judėjimo – pristatyta pirmoji Lietuvoje kontaktinio tinklo valymo technika". lrt.lt (in Lithuanian). 2020-12-08. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  2. ^ "Vilniaus viešasis transportas — Vehicle Statistics". fotobus.msk.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  3. ^ En, Elta (2015-08-14). "Vilnius reintroducing night bus service". Lithuania Tribune. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
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