Klitschko urges government to open subways on May 25

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has asked Ukraine’s government to allow city authorities to reopen the Kyiv Metro as early as May 25 after the capital suffered from ubiquitous traffic jams on May 12, when the quarantine was partly lifted across Ukraine.

Access to the subway should be unlimited to avoid long lines and overcrowded stations, Klitschko said at a press briefing on May 13. The mayor pointed out that the use of special transport passes – which currently only grant critical personnel access to public transport – is “utopian” and will aggravate the situation.

Klitschko also said that he would start reintroducing all public transport after the quarantine officially ends on May 22. However, it will take “some time” to fully relaunch public transportation, he said.

Meanwhile, the mayor asked citizens to keep a safe distance from one another, wear medical masks and protective gloves and use the currently available public transport only to get to and from work or in case of an emergency.

On May 12, Kyiv relaunched 30 additional buses and trams on all 22 routes that were already operating in the capital during the quarantine.

On May 11–12, Ukraine’s government loosened quarantine restrictions across the whole country, allowing local authorities to reopen businesses like restaurants with terraces and hairdressing salons and to ramp up public transportation.

Meanwhile, to encourage people to use taxis instead of more buses and trams, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said that, starting on May 13, Ukrainian taxi services can use road lanes dedicated for public transport to help people get back to work faster. The rules apply only to legal carriers with the official licenses, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii wrote on the Telegram messenger.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the government would fully reintroduce public transport closer to mid-summer, stressing that subways and intercity trains will resume work last.

“Until we pass the peak (of COVID-19), imagine two million people gathering in subway wagons every day,” Shmyhal said, pointing out that being in crowded places increases the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus, which has killed 439 people in Ukraine.

According to Ukraine’s COVID-19 quarantine exit plan, the government will start resuming the work of trains within the administrative borders of oblasts from May 29. 

To travel to other oblasts, people will have to wait until June 9, when Ukraine will gradually start allowing bus trips to other regions of Ukraine and abroad. Currently, the only way to travel between oblasts is by car.

The government will reintroduce daytime intercity trains starting June 12.

Meanwhile, on May 13, representatives of bus carriers from all over Ukraine protested against the travel ban on public transportation to other oblasts and abroad. The protesters parked buses on European Square in Kyiv, placing posters on them that said “resume bus transportation” and “charter (flights) for oligarchs, buses for people.”

The rally resulted in a huge traffic jam in Kyiv on the morning of May 13.