This spring, night transport will resume operations in the capital. Moreover, compared to last year, the number of routes is planned to increase almost threefold, despite significant costs.
In the spring of last year, ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, the capital's leadership showed an unusual sensitivity to the people and restored night public transport in Riga after a five-year hiatus. This raised suspicions that the deputies were merely courting voters and that support for night transport could be considered 'election expenses.' However, in any case, the service turned out to be highly demanded by the residents of Riga.
The pilot project, initially planned by the council only for the warm season (from May 17 to September 28), was extended until the end of October due to numerous requests from residents. According to Rīgas satiksme, over this period, more than 11,000 passengers were transported. This cost the city budget, which subsidized Rīgas satiksme, more than 100,000 euros, and therefore everyone assumed that after the elections, night transport would be forgotten for a long time.
However, things turned out differently. This year (from May, and possibly from April), the capital plans to launch night transport again. Previously, the Rīgas satiksme company provided transport services on only three routes: 'Center — Teika — Jugla — Mežciems,' 'Center — Agenskalns — Zolitūde — Imanta,' and 'Center — Purvciems — Plavnieki — Dārziems,' but in the spring, in addition to the existing routes, five more are planned to be opened — to Vecmilgrāvis, Daugavgrīva, Kengarags, Ziepniekkalns, and the airport.
The transport will operate at night from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday to Sunday, and possibly every night on the route to the airport. This issue is currently being resolved.
