Replacing minibuses with medium-capacity buses on suburban routes planned

 
The authorities of the Astrakhan city intend to gradually replace minibuses with medium-capacity buses on suburban routes. This became known during the meeting of the regional government on 07/31/25

 - at which a comprehensive plan for transport services for residents of the Astrakhan city and the standards of such services were considered in detail.

According to the Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Astrakhan Region, Alexey Chepyakov, as part of this work, surveys of the transport infrastructure, passenger flows and road traffic have been conducted, which made it possible to identify the main problems. These are duplication of routes, unsatisfactory condition of transport means and the lack of routes to remote settlements. In order to solve this problem, it is planned to create terminal routes between Astrakhan and the districts, update the rolling stock, improve the transport infrastructure and introduce services for monitoring buses and informing passengers.

It is also planned to reduce the length of the route network, over several years, by 42%, but increase the average daily number of passengers transported by 5%. And the replacement of small-capacity buses (minibuses) with medium-capacity buses, which is planned for 2030, according to the authorities’ plan, should optimize costs and simultaneously improve service for passengers.