The Minister of Transport, Marius Skuodis, has signed an order to allocate funding for the purchase of 195 electric buses for public transport operators.
Additionally, earlier this year, funding was already allocated for the acquisition of 80 units by operators in the municipalities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Ukmergė, Vilkaviškis, Kaišiadorys, and Trakai districts.
The bus depots that received funding are now beginning the procurement procedures.
In total, this year, 54.77 million euros has been allocated to companies providing transport services in both larger and smaller municipalities across Lithuania, which will ensure the acquisition of 275 eco-friendly buses.
Alongside the purchase of these vehicles, funds have also been earmarked for the installation of charging infrastructure for these units.
“In terms of decarbonising the transport sector, Lithuania’s major cities have made the most progress so far. However, we hope that with record investments and the favourable conditions we have created, smaller cities will also more eagerly join the transformation of the transport sector,” says Deputy Minister of Transport, Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė.
“I have no doubt that by the end of this decade, Lithuania’s bus depots will be unrecognisable,” Vaiciukevičiūtė adss.
According to the Deputy Minister, the transformation of bus depots in both larger and smaller cities will receive a significant boost from the requirement that, from 2026 onwards, all newly purchased public transport vehicles in Lithuania must be powered by alternative fuels.
Currently, there are 8,055 registered buses and trolleybuses in Lithuania, of which only 900 are powered by alternative fuels.
The 54.77 million euros in funding for the purchase of 275 electric buses was allocated this week under the Ministry of Transport’s 2022–2030 Transport Development Programme’s progress measure “Promote the Use of Alternative Fuels in the Transport Sector”, financed by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility “NextGenerationEU” under the “New Generation Lithuania” recovery plan.
An additional 1.36 million euros from this plan has been allocated to an initiative that will soon be launched, providing companies that manufacture or assemble electric vehicles with the opportunity to enhance their production capabilities and promote the production of zero-emission M2 and M3 class electric vehicles in Lithuania.
