Kyiv has nearly quadrupled public transport fares from Hr.8 ($0.18) to Hr.30 ($0.67) per trip starting Wednesday, July 15.
The fees apply to all public transport in the city, which includes trams, buses, trolleybuses, and the metro. Minibusses are not affected directly as they are operated by private companies.
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The Kyiv City State Administration wrote on Saturday that a 90-minute transfer ticket is also planned for Aug. 1, which would allow “unlimited transfers between all types of public transport within 90 minutes.”
The administration added that an unlimited monthly pass is available for Hr.3,656 ($82), down 25% from the originally proposed price of Hr.4,875 ($109).
The price for the monthly pass would amount to around 4 trips per day under the new fares, including weekends.
Students also enjoy a 50% discount on monthly passes and free trips except for summer holidays, when they’d pay 25% of the fare instead.
A bulk discount is also available in increments of 10 trips per purchase.
In a subsequent update, the administration said unused trips must be used by Sept. 15, otherwise they’d be converted to a digital balance based on the purchase price.
Why the price hike?
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko hinted at the price hike in April, arguing that it was prompted by a “colossal subsidy” from the city’s budget.
He said the fares have not been revised since 2018.
“The increase in the cost of fuel, electricity, consumables, and logistics is forcing the city authorities to bring the cost of travel closer to [what’s considered] economically justified,” he wrote on April 7.
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“Also, implementing measures for the city’s energy sustainability, the Kyiv City Council will be forced to redistribute some items of the capital’s budget. And our transport is subsidized (Hr.12 billion [$268 million] for this year, for example),” he added.
The Kyiv City State Administration argued that realistic prices in 2026 would be Hr.64.60 ($1.6) per metro trip and Hr.44.14 ($1.09) based on “calculations by transport enterprises,” according to a May report by the New Voice of Ukraine.
The outlet cited a petition submitted to the city administration calling for the fare increase to be postponed until the end of martial law, which it said gathered 6,000 signatures within its first day.
“Under martial law, when a significant share of Kyiv residents have unstable incomes, many families support the military, displaced people or those affected by the war, and the minimum wage in Ukraine remains at a level where transport costs after the proposed increase could become a significant share of a person’s monthly income,” the petition’s author said.
Read more about the average salary in Ukraine by region and by profession as of December 2025 in this Kyiv Post report.
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