Lithuania may close bus service with Belarus: the Ministry of Transport has already asked the Lithuanian Security Department to assess the risks of passenger bus trips to Belarus.
This request was based on reports and warnings from the State Border Guard Service that the Belarusian special services were actively operating at the border, interrogating Lithuanian citizens right at the border crossing points and forcing them to cooperate. Because of this, there are already calls for Lithuanian citizens not to travel to Belarus and Russia.
Based on the response of the State Border Guard Service with conclusions on the degree of such risks, the Ministry of Transport may “reduce passenger transportation to Belarus or abandon such routes altogether.” The agency’s experts are convinced that the work of Lithuanian carriers should be assessed in the context of national security and possible threats.
Currently, 11 Lithuanian and 22 Belarusian road carriers provide bus services between Lithuania and Belarus. They serve 66 established bus routes on both sides of the border.
By the way, direct transit flights from Vilnius to Kyiv via Belarus have been canceled. With the outbreak of full-scale war, they had to be laid in a roundabout way. The buses travel through Poland to Lviv, then through Rivne and Zhytomyr to the Ukrainian capital.
The 1197-kilometer journey from Vilnius to Kyiv takes an average of 24-25 hours. Of course, the ticket price has changed due to the change in the route from the pre-war one. Now a passenger has to pay UAH 2,650 for one seat, which is cheap compared to other routes, as there are routes where a ticket costs EUR 118, or UAH 4,783.
The result will not change due to the rearrangement of carriers
It is worth remembering the arithmetic and substituting terms for the carriers. Almost all the media in the Baltic States, Belarus, and Ukraine began to replicate information about the possible closure of bus routes without delving into the nature of the problem. Yes, there are risks. However, Auto24 experts found out that it is not about closing the border, but about reducing or closing routes, which will complicate not only logistics but also the safety of people crossing the border between the two countries.
Since the border is open, so-called irregular bus transportation will be organized instead of established routes with proven passenger carriers and experienced drivers. They will replace, and in fact intercept, passenger traffic from regular flights and become an alternative to them, which will reduce the safety of transportation. This will be a replacement of some road carriers with others.
The main threat is seen in the risks of safe transportation. Whereas regular buses and drivers are subject to mandatory inspections of the technical condition of passenger vehicles and medical examinations of drivers before each trip, alternative irregular routes do not have this at all or fictitiously do so through fake agreements with the relevant entities. Therefore, passengers on such transportation are more exposed to danger and the proportion of accidents is growing.
