Use of public transport has returned to pre-COVID level in Estonia

  • 2022-05-02
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – Figures for the first quarter of this year show that public transport in Estonia has recovered from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its user numbers have almost returned to the levels seen before the pandemic.

"It is a pleasure to see that people's trust in public transport has been restored, and more and more people are choosing this environmentally friendly way of getting around," Mihkel Maeker, head of the public transport department at the Estonian Transport Administration, said in a press release on Monday.

In the first quarter of 2022, 26 percent more passengers used county bus lines in Estonia than in the first quarter of 2021. Compared to the first three months of 2020, there was essentially no change, while number was still smaller by 7 percent than in the first quarter of 2019.

"At the same time, public transport centers have noticed that the habit of validating trips has decreased," Maeker said.

Ferries registered 31 percent more boardings in the first quarter of 2022 than in the same period in 2021. The number of boardings was 12 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2020 but 8 percent lower than in 2019.

The biggest increase has taken place in aviation. The volume of air passengers in services within Estonia grew by 57 percent compared to the first quarter of last year. Compared to the first quarter of 2020, the number was bigger by 48 percent, and bigger by 50 percent than in the first three months of 2019.