Lithuania’s capital city will expand its bus fleet with Solaris NGVs in late January

Vilnius Public Transportation had already introduced 18 MAN Lion’s City CNG buses in March 2013. These 12 meter vehicles, which can transport 86 commuters with 31 seats, including a space for disabled commuters with wheelchairs, were acquired through European Union funding, according to the 2007-2013 Promotion of Cohesion program measure “Complex ecological public transport development.”

“European Union funds will dramatically improve the quality of Vilnius public transportation. Of course, Vilnius is not the only city that can expect improvements. Other large cities in Lithuania, like Kaunas, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Klaipėda can also expect transportation changes. These cities’ fleets will be bolstered by 50 new green transport vehicles,” the Minister of Transportation of the Republic of Lithuania Rimantas Sinkevičius said in March.

Overall, Vilnius Public Transportation is expected to gain 59 new buses, including both the 19 Solaris Urbino 12 and the 18 MAN Lion’s City batches; the remaining 22 will begin service next year, the City of Vilnius reported a few months ago.

The last time that Vilnius’ fleet of public buses received an upgrade was between 2003 and 2006, when the fleet received 14 new Mercedes buses and 90 new Volvo buses. In total, Vilnius’ fleet includes 370 buses and 320 trolley buses, which serve 200,000 commuters a day.