Transportation in Lviv

22-Jun 2020
By Admin

How to Get Around in Lviv—a Complete Travel Guide!

Lviv is the hotspot for MBBS aspirants in Ukraine. Every year, hundreds of students from around the world find their way to the city to pursue their MBBS abroad. The city is a visual treat for all who set foot in its streets. The breath-taking buildings are of the baroque, renaissance, and classic architecture. Also, Lviv is widely known for its cultural diversity, vivid social life, delicious food, and panoramic views in its mountains. However, this spectacular city has one drawback for our MBBS aspirants—the public transportation system.

The Lviv public transportation system has always been and will be—at least for some time—extremely messy and ambiguous. Travelling to Lviv from different countries and cities might not pose a problem because of its world class airport, but navigating within the city might be a challenge for newcomers like tourists and students looking to pursue their MBBS in Ukraine.

MBBS Universities have excellent connections in Lviv. Before a student joins the prestigious MBBS universities in the city, it is important for him/her to know a little about the public transportation system before actually using it.

The Main Modes of Public Transport in Lviv

The public transportation in the city has mainly five components—buses, marshrutkas, trolleybuses, trams, and night buses.

Lviv International Airport
Danylo Halytskyi Lviv International Airport is the second largest airport in Ukraine. It lies 6 Km away from the Lviv center.Airport is located 5.6 Km from Railway Station and 6 Km from bus station. Lviv Internation airport have non direct flights to 40 destinations, in 19 countries.The major destinations from Lviv International Airport are.
- Warsaw
- Gdansk
- Istanbul
- Berlin
- Vienna
- London
- Katowice
- Copenhagen
- Budapest
- Bratislava
- Larnaca
- Dortmund
- Hurghada
- Vilnius
- Frankfurt
- Munich
- Minsk
- Kyiv
- Antalya
- Bologna
- Mandrid
Indian students can travel to Lviv from New Delhi/ Mumbai via Instanbul through Turkish International Airline. Flight ticket costs 35-55k for a round trip.
Lviv Railway station.

Railway station in Lviv city is opened to public from 1904. Rail transport is one of the cheapest and most comfortable transport through Ukraine. Lviv Railway station have daily trains to all major cities of Ukraine daily. Lot of foreign students from other parts of Ukraine depends on rail services to reach Lviv. Lviv is the major vacation where Indian and foreign students all over Ukraine spend their time.
Lviv Buses
The most convenient type of public transport within the city are the buses. They can accommodate a large number of people as they are bigger than the marshrutkas. Therefore, they’re usually crowded during the day.

We recommend that the MBBS students take the bus after 12 PM and before 5 PM for ease of travel and to make most of their day. Some buses circulate outside the city and function during night hours, so transportation will always be available to the students.

Recently, most of the old buses were replaced with new and modern ones which have an automatic announcement system, and facilities to accommodate the differently-abled individuals.
Lviv Marshrutkas
The Marshrutkas are yellow buses of the brand ‘Bohdan’ which are produced in Cherkasy. They are regarded as route/share taxis as they run on limited or specific routes. They are smaller than regular buses, and old marshrutkas in the city break-down often during a trip especially during winter when it’s less than -10 degrees. Additionally, these small buses are often overcrowded due the number of people that commute to their work every day.
Lviv Trolleybuses
The Trolleybuses in Lviv are a student’s favourite. MBBS students would love travelling on it. It’s also very popular among the senior citizens. The reason for this popularity is its cheap ticket fare; as the trolleybuses are fuelled by electricity their fare is cheaper compared to that of buses which run on liquid. Surprisingly, these eco-friendly buses are comparatively less crowded than other transport systems in Lviv.

In a trolleybus, the tickets are taken from the driver. A passenger must validate the ticket after paying the driver through one of the ticket-punchers available in the trolleybus cabin.
Lviv Trams
Trams are similar to trolleybuses in function and are more popular among the people and the students at the MBBS universities in the city for their convenient routes. Therefore, they’re usually overcrowded. We advise students to plan their trips prior due to the unexpected delays this might cause.

Recently, the government has introduced an electronic payment system in some of the trams which allow passengers to pay with a debit/credit card through an electronic PIN machine installed in the vehicle.
Lviv Night Buses
The night buses in Lviv are marked with the Ukrainian letter ‘?’—which has a close resemblance to the English letter ‘H’—which is the Cyrillic spelling for ‘N’, that is short for ‘Night Bus’. These buses circulate within the city with one hour gaps from 11.40 PM to 05.00 AM.

Important Facts about the Lviv Public Transportation System

During the morning and the evening, the city experiences its peak hours which means the traffic will be high, and concentrated mainly to the centre of the city and the main roads connecting to it such as Horodots’ka Street, Shevchenko Street, and Pidval’na Street.
The City Centre—including Svobody Avenue—is blocked on Sundays and holidays.
The Lviv public transport can be unreliable at times. Sometimes, the buses don’t follow the assigned schedule and the route causing inconvenience to its passengers. Therefore, in case of emergencies or important appointments, we suggest the students to hire a taxi. The taxi system in the city is efficient and fast.
The buses, especially the marshrutkas are overcrowded. The Ukrainians fill the buses to its brim. However, once the student understands the transportation system, it’ll be easier for them to identify the time when the buses are least crowded.

Costs Using the Public Transport of Lviv

The ticket fare in the city of Lviv is cheaper than most of the cities in Europe. For example, a student can purchase a monthly ticket for the electronic bus for a price that would generally be a single ticket fare in Berlin or London.

The gas-engine vehicles—yellow marshrutkas and buses—cost 5 UAH per person.
The electric vehicles—tram and trolleybuses—cost 3 UAH per person.

**The tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable

** On trams and trolleybuses of the Lviv Elektrotrans, passengers are required pay an additional fare for heavy luggage—3 UAH.

Recently, the Lviv Elektrotrans introduced a 3-day-ticket for tourists. The ticket fare is 40 UAH and grants passengers complete access to trams and trolleybuses for three days. For an MBBS student, we recommend the monthly ticket for electric-vehicles as they’ll be using the trams and trolleybuses often. It is roughly 100 UAH.

Important routes in Lviv

From the Airport to the City Centre
1. Marshrutka 48—Exit at Rizni Square
2. Trolleybus 9—Circulating at 12.5 min interval—Exit at the Medical University
(Both stops are at the City Centre, but to directly reach Rynok (Market Square) passengers have to transfer from Stepana Bandery Street to Tram 1 or 2.)
From the Lviv Railway Station to the City Center
1. Tram 1 —Circulating at 12.5 min interval—Exit at Rynok (Market Square)
2. Tram 9—Circulating at 10 min interval—Exit at Ruska Street
3. Marshrutka 29—Circulating at 12.5 min. interval at the bus station at Zaliznychnyi vokzal (29)—Exit at Pidvalna Street
From the Airport to the Railway Station
1. 1. Marshrutka 48—circulating at 20 min interval from the Airport bus stop. Passenger have to transfer at Liubinska Street to either Marshrutka 38 (Exit at Zaliznychnyi vokzal) or Bus 16 (Exit at Zaliznychnyi vokzal)
From the Main Bus Station at Stryjska Street to the City Centre
1. Bus 3?—circulating at 11 min interval—Exit at Pidvalna Street
2. Marshrutka 9—circulating at 22.5 min interval—Exit at Petra Doroshenka Street
From bus station #2 (Bohdana Hmelnitskoho) to the city center
1. Bus 53—Circulating at 12.5 min interval)—Exit at Svobody Avenue
2. Suburban bus 114—Circulating at 12.5 min interval—Exit at Opery ta baletu Teatr (Opera Theater)
3. Bus 1A—Circulating at 14 min. interval—Exit at Halytska Square
4. Marshrutka 39—Circulating at 15 min. interval—Exit at Pidvalna Street