The number of passengers traveling to St. Petersburg from the Baltic States with coach company Lux Express is four times smaller than before the coronavirus pandemic and the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But bosses say there is still a demand, as this is one of the only ways to cross the border.
Lux Express operates five daily departures from Tallinn to St. Petersburg and one per day from Riga via Estonia’s border city Narva. Additionally, five times a week, a route runs from Tallinn to St. Petersburg via the southern border at Luhamaa.
In Narva, passengers must cross the border on foot, walk across the bridge, and then get on a bus from the Russian company Eurolines on the other side to continue their journey. Lux Express also owns a stake in Eurolines.
Lux board member Ingmar Roos told ERR the number of passengers traveling to Russia had decreased year on year.
“This morning, I checked the numbers, and so far this year – January was, of course, a very low period – the average number of passengers per departure had been 24. That means a 40% occupancy rate, so the buses are definitely not full,” he said. “In 2024, the total number of passengers on all our Russia-bound routes, including Riga, was 50% lower than in 2023 and four times lower than before COVID-19 and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”
Roos believes this trend is to be expected given the broader political context. He also highlighted the number of departures had gradually reduced. The company no longer considers Russia-bound routes part of its core business.
“We do not intend to operate at a loss, and if the numbers drop below the breakeven point, we will certainly reduce departures further,” Roos added.
The profile of passengers traveling from Estonia and Latvia to Russia is diverse. In 2023, Roos said passengers of 134 different nationalities bought tickets for the Riga-St. Petersburg and Tallinn-St. Petersburg routes. But last year, the number rose to 144.
“Considering that Estonia’s border checkpoints have essentially become like Checkpoint Charlie (the border crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War), a significant number of people from various countries who need to travel to Russia for different reasons pass through here,” Roos said.
Last year, Russian citizens made up approximately 55% of the total passengers on these routes, he told ERR.
After Finland has closed its border with Russia more than a year ago, Russians holding permanent residence permits in Finland or dual citizenship now traveled via Estonia, the board member added.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, thousands of Ukrainians who found themselves under Russian occupation fled to Europe via Russia through Narva using buses. The numbers have shrunk, as the war has continued.
Five companies in Estonia transport passengers to Russia.
Ecolines Estonia offers trips to both St. Petersburg and Moscow, while Baltic Shuttle and Anniston operate on the Tallinn-St. Petersburg route. Presto runs trips between Parnu and St. Petersburg.
All these carriers have partner companies in Russia, because their transportation model is the same as Lux Express. The Estonian company takes passengers to the border, where they are picked up by a partner company’s bus on the Russian side.
Roos said passenger transport between Estonia and Russia was based on an intergovernmental agreement. It stipulates operations must be conducted on a parity basis. This means if an Estonian company wants to operate a route between Estonia and Russia, it must find a partner in Russia.
“This has been the case from the very beginning,” said Roos, referring back to Estonia’s re-independence. “Neither an Estonian nor a Russian company can operate the service alone. Our Russian subsidiary, Eurolines, which is our partner, was deliberately established back in 1997 to ensure that we had a service partner independent of Russian capital and controlled by Estonian capital.”
Lux Express is the largest of these bus companies in terms of revenue. In 2023, its consolidated turnover was EUR 43 million, with a profit of EUR 12.2 million. Ecolines had a turnover of EUR 8.3 million and a profit of over EUR 581,000.
Presto, which exclusively operated on the St. Petersburg route, had a turnover of nearly EUR 838,000 and a profit of EUR 60,195. Baltic Shuttle earned a profit of EUR 626,000 on a turnover of EUR 1.6 million, while Anniston reported a turnover of EUR 877,000 and a profit of nearly EUR 143,700.
Roos said Lux Express’s financial performance related to its Russia-bound routes had declined. Revenue has dropped significantly.
“Lux Express has repeatedly had to explain to the public why an Estonian company is still engaged in passenger transport to Russia. But we explain it this way: the passenger structure shows that this is not primarily about taking Russian citizens to Europe for vacations – definitely not. The main purpose is to provide a means of travel for people who have family ties on either side of the border,” Roos stressed.
He added that people with close relatives on the other side of the border continued to travel to Russia once or twice a year. Sometimes they have to wait hours at the border, especially during the holiday season.
“There is still a need for this,” Roos acknowledged, estimating the majority of all border crossers are those who reach the border on their own, either by car or using domestic public transport within Estonia. “Unfortunately, the reality is that people still need to move.”
At the weekend, two people were killed after a St. Petersburg-bound Lux Express coach collided with a snow plough. (ERR)