In the first quarter, the number of bus passengers grew the most on urban lines
According to Statistics Estonia, 49.9 million passengers used transport services provided by Estonian enterprises in the first quarter of 2025, which is 2% less than in the same period last year. Buses carried 41.6 million and trains 1.9 million passengers. Compared with the first quarter of 2024, bus use increased by 4%, while passenger train use remained unchanged. In the first quarter, the number of bus passengers on urban lines rose by 6% compared with the same quarter last year.
Buses transported 41.6 million passengers and travelled 39 million kilometres in the first quarter. Anton Kardakov, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that the most used type of bus transport was once again urban bus lines. “In the first quarter, the number of bus passengers on urban lines increased by 6% year on year, reaching 34.2 million. However, this did not fully compensate for the loss of trolleybus passengers due to the closure of the last trolleybus routes in Tallinn. The number of tram passengers decreased by about 2% compared with the same period last year, standing at 5.1 million,” added Kardakov.
There were 681,200 bus passengers on domestic long-distance lines, which is 7% less than in the first quarter of 2024.
247,100 bus journeys were made on international lines operated by Estonian enterprises in the first quarter, which is 3% more than at the same time last year. There were 43,000 passengers on international charter trips, down by 18% year on year. “In the second quarter of 2024, there were 135,000 people carried on international charter trips, which was a record number after the end of the COVID restrictions. The first quarter data indicate that 2025 has started less actively,” Kardakov pointed out.
Passenger trains were used 1.9 million times in the first quarter, accounting for 4% of the total number of passengers carried by land transport. Compared with the previous year's first quarter, passenger train use remained at the same level.
10% of all land transport journeys are made by tram and 86% by bus. The highest share of bus rides is taken on urban lines (82%), followed by county and municipal lines (14%), domestic long-distance lines and charter services (2% each). International bus services are the least used.
See also the transport section on our website. More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.
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Heidi Kukk
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Statistics Estonia
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