Kyiv's public transport will rank among the five most expensive in Europe in terms of travel pass costs if fares for residents and visitors are raised as early as July. This is reported by UNN with reference to an infographic by the NGO "Passengers of Kyiv."
Details
According to their data, the capital of Ukraine previously ranked 21st in the ranking of the most expensive transport passes among European cities (out of 23 positions in total) with a monthly pass costing 1,300 UAH.
However, after the change in fares planned for introduction as early as July 15, 2026, Kyiv could automatically fall into the top five most expensive cities in Europe for transport costs. This is because a monthly pass will then cost 4,875 UAH, and a single trip will cost 163 UAH.
By these indicators, the Ukrainian capital will trail only London, Amsterdam, and Stockholm.
Why the need arose to revise municipal transport fares
At the beginning of the week, it became known that Kyiv is preparing new transport fares that will be nearly four times higher than the current ones.
The Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) justifies this by stating that the last time fares in the capital were revised was in 2018. Updating the tariffs is necessary to bring them closer to an economically justified level and cover the increased costs of electricity, fuel, labor, and infrastructure maintenance. Furthermore, it is necessary to address the situation of declining passenger traffic now so that municipal transport enterprises do not go bankrupt.
According to the calculations of transport enterprises, the economically justified fare for 2026 is 64.60 UAH per trip in the metro and 44.14 UAH in ground municipal transport. At the same time, the costs included in the 2026 tariff project were calculated based on the actual expenses of transport enterprises for 2025, projected price increases, as well as updated costs for salaries and energy resources
What the KCSA offers for municipal transport passengers
For passengers who regularly use public transport, a system of discounts when topping up a transport card is planned. The cost of a single trip will depend on the number of trips purchased:
- 1–9 trips – 30 UAH;
- 10–19 – 28.90 UAH;
- 20–29 – 27.80 UAH;
- 30–39 – 26.60 UAH;
- 40–49 – 25.50 UAH;
- 50 – 25 UAH.
Monthly travel passes are also provided, where the cost of one trip will be approximately 23.3–23.6 UAH.
The proposed prices for monthly passes are as follows:
- 46 trips – 1,088 UAH;
- 62 trips – 1,463 UAH;
- 92 trips – 2,156 UAH;
- 124 trips – 2,888 UAH.
An unlimited monthly pass for the metro, bus, tram, trolleybus, and funicular will cost 4,875 UAH.
Preferential conditions are promised for students and pupils. Thus, students will pay 50% of the monthly pass cost, and pupils during summer holidays will pay 25% (free during the school year).
Separately, they plan to introduce a transfer ticket costing 60 UAH. It will allow transfers between the metro and ground transport within 90 minutes without restrictions.
Special unlimited passes are provided for guests of the city:
- for 24 hours – 375 UAH;
- for 48 hours – 563 UAH;
- for 72 hours – 750 UAH.
Transport fares in the capital to rise: what public activists say
The NGO "Passengers of Kyiv" conducted a fresh analysis of the tariffs and concluded that Kyiv residents will be forced to pay on average three times more for travel than residents of Central and Eastern European capitals.
And this is despite the fact that with a Kyiv pass for 4,875 UAH (110 EUR), you will not be able to use private minibuses (marshrutkas) or the city train. In addition, even the current pass for 1,300 UAH, which is very unfavorable for Kyiv residents (and which almost no one buys), costs more than in Prague or Budapest and is on par with Warsaw and Bratislava. Although the difference in quality, convenience, and predictability of transport compared to these cities is simply colossal
The NGO also explains that currently, all European cities are betting on cheap monthly, quarterly, and annual passes to encourage citizens to use municipal transport instead of daily car use. However, in Kyiv, everything is being done the opposite way.
The KCSA is hooking Kyiv residents on supposedly very cheap single trips but making monthly passes completely unfavorable. Quarterly or annual passes are not offered at all
They explain: to break even on the current pass for 1,300 UAH (at a fare of 8 UAH per single trip), one needs to make 163 trips – about 8 per day. If the pass cost changes to 4,875 (at a fare of 30), the passenger still needs those same 8 trips per day, which only active couriers can manage.
How Ukrainians reacted to the news of the fare increase
On May 18, people created electronic petition No. 14225 demanding a halt to the increase in public transport fares in Kyiv until the end of martial law.
It was initiated by Oleksiy Ksenich.
We, the residents of the territorial community of the city of Kyiv, appeal to the Kyiv City Council with a demand to prevent an increase in public transport fares in the capital until the end of martial law in Ukraine
Its author emphasizes that this is not actually about a minor tariff adjustment, but about a sharp and socially painful increase in the cost of a basic city service. For Kyiv residents who use public transport daily for work, study, medical treatment, or administrative services, such an increase will mean an additional financial burden of hundreds or even thousands of hryvnias every month.
Ksenich even cites examples of other Ukrainian cities – Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Lviv – where, given the state of war, public transport is either free or paid at low rates.
Note that the petition gathered the 6,000 signatures required for consideration in just a few hours. As of May 19, it has been signed by 9,421 people.
Where in Europe is public transport most expensive
London remains the most expensive city for public transport. There, a monthly pass costs 10,127 UAH, and the cost of one day of transport use is 338 UAH. The top five also included Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, and Bern.
Among the cities of Central and Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague have lower pass costs. In Warsaw, a monthly pass costs 1,330 UAH, in Budapest – 1,275 UAH, and in Prague – 1,165 UAH.
Reminder
The KCSA plans to set a fare of 30 hryvnias per trip starting July 15, 2026. Discounts and new travel passes will be available for regular passengers. Currently, the fare for public transport in Kyiv is 8 UAH for the metro, buses, trolleybuses, trams, and funicular, and from 15 UAH for the city train.