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For those travelling from Tallinn to Viljandi, the cheaper-by-half bus ticked is cause of joy; for the bus companies, this spells headache – according to them, this is the final desperate attempt before shutting down the line. Even the Tallinn-Tartu line, profitable up to now, can’t escape thinning the schedule.
Till recently, a «full» Tallinn-Viljandi ticket cost €11. At the beginning of February, Eesti Buss let it drop to six euros.
«The special price at the Viljandi line is a campaign aimed at increasing amount of passengers. The dark side of it: should the favourable price fail to lure more bus-travellers, the line regrettably has to be shut down,» said an Eesti Buss board member Tõnu Ruusamäe and explained that buses indeed fill up on Fridays and Sundays, but in week-days there’s next to no one in the buses.
Tough price battle
Hansabuss lowered the Viljandi line ticket price in mid-January; after the decision by Eesti Buss, they had to do it yet again.
«With a bus 95 percent filled up and a past of those riding at a discount, even at today’s process we can make ends meet. In practice, however, the percentage is 20–30 and that spells loss,» noted Madis Lepp, Viljandi region chief at Hansabuss.
With Eesti Buss line No 177 Tallinn-to-Viljandi ticket now as cheap as a ride to the latter from Mäo, passengers are still scarce. At a Wednesday morning departure, they were about a dozen.
«I’m taking a bur as the bus station is right next to the [Viljandi] Culture Academy, in the city centre, so I don’t have to wander about with the suitcase. From the railway station, it’s a long walk. In the winter, that would be bothersome with the luggage,» said Mari Pukk, on her way to Viljandi.
As also acknowledged by Nady Sprenk-Dorn (headed to Viljandi to give lectures) and Glaid Happonen – a high school student – they do prefer the bus.
Despite what the passengers say, Eesti Buss’ experience tells them that, in January, numbers of passengers dropped at all main connections – as bus companies had to compete with the state-subsidised Elron [the train company – edit].
«In a situation where over 70 percent of a railway-company revenue comes from the state, the bus-carriers – who have to cover all costs by ticket income – have a hard time to keep in step in the price fight. As revealed, also, in the ticket sales this year, and the numbers of passengers,» noted Mr Ruusamäe.
According to Taisto Liinid transport administrator Jan Landrat, passengers have become fewer mainly at the trips where a train and a bus depart at approximately the same time.
«While the bus departure intervals are for the Road Administration to regulate, so that the buses going the same direction have reasonable amount of time in between them, train departure times are not being compared with the buses – so the trains have full freedom to schedule their departures at the same instant as a bus,» he said.
Though the bus companies are not denying that a large part of their departures are in the red, none wants to be the first to delete the line.
«If one bus company closes down its line, then maybe the other one will not have to do that,» explained Mr Landrat. According to him, Taisto Liinid has tried differing scenarios; even so, it hasn’t issued an official verdict regarding any of the schedule changes.
Mr Ruusamäe, the Eesti Buss board member, said Estonia had quite a few of lines where ticket revenue isn’t compensating for the costs; so far, these have functioned thanks to the profit earned at the main lines. Now, even these are losing passengers, so in near future bus traffic volumes will go down significantly.
Learn to adjust
According to Sebe CEO Kuldar Väärsi, the first wave of closures will hit the Tallinn–Viljandi, Tallinn–Narva, and Tallinn–Tartu lines, where buses are having to compete with trains.
Thus, on March 1st the Sebe-owned Eesti Buss closed down one Tallinn–Tartu express-line and desires not to prolong its Tallinn–Paide–Põltsamaa–Tartu line permit. Also, the company is considering the closure of two more Tartu lines. «Well, we’ll see about them gradually; and the ones that are impossible to service will be closed. But we cannot give you the exact time,» said Mr Väärsi.
According to him, the disappearance of lines doing the main corridors may also leave «busless» the farter corners of South Estonia, where trains do not go and which have so far been serviced by buses travelling through Tartu. For instance: if a Tallinn–Tartu line has not passengers enough, servicing the Tallinn–Tartu–Saatse line will become difficult as well. Meanwhile, the full-hours-express – managed by Lux Express – will escape all cuts.
Mr Väärsi said it was too soon to tell how said cuts might affect health of bus companies. «We were aware that the market situation was going to change; for that, we are also prepared. Pragmatically speaking: what do you do, a private company will have to adjust with the conditions,» said he.
According to the Sebe chief, trouble awaits the bus companies that haven’t considered the market change. «But I would rather not name names,» admitted the man.
While taking decisions to shut down sole lines, the bus companies are also on the lookout for perspective new lines to be opened. As an example of that, in February Hansa Bussiliinid opened a new departure on the Tartu–Viljandi direction. Sebe is also planning a couple of new lines; hinting at competition, the bus company was unwilling to disclose the details.
To become history
Eesti Buss’ lines to be closed
• From March 1st, express line No 155 (Tallinn–Tartu)
• From March 15th, line No 808 (Tallinn–Paide–Põltsamaa– Tartu)
• From April 8th, line No 110 (Tallinn–Rakvere–Tudu–Rannapungerja–Mustvee–Kallaste–Alatskivi), and line No 901 (Narva–Jõhvi–Mustvee–Tartu–Valga)
• Probably, express lines No 160 (Tallinn–Tartu) and No 150 (Tartu–Põltsamaa–Mäo–Tallinn)n be closed as well
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Comment
Rasmus Ruuda, adviser at public relations department, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication
Should there indeed occur a negative impact on bus traffic, by train traffic, in the future, it will not be the carriers that will have to worry about the passengers – rather, it’s the authorities responsible for organising public transportation i.e. the local governments, first and foremost.
In other words, if a commercially operated bus line is closed down, a county government needs to assess if, due to the commercial line closed down, people have sufficient reasonable alternatives to travel (such as trains or other bus traffic). Train and bus traffic should not be pitted against each other; rather, these should complement each other. The aim of the state is to increase the share of public transportation as an economical means of transport in movement of people, in its entirety.