Solidarity on wheels: buses from St. Gallen help Chernihiv restore city life

 The city streets of Chernihiv (Ukraine), thanks to new public buses donated by the Swiss city of St. Gallen, are once again filled with traffic. In September 2024, Chernihiv received 11 modern buses within the framework of a partnership initiative supported by the Embassy of Switzerland, the project DECIDE, the city of St. Gallen and Ukraine-Switzerland Association Bern (USB).

This assistance was timely and extremely necessary: due to the full-scale war, the transport infrastructure in the city was seriously damaged. The new buses provide comfortable, reliable and accessible transportation city, especially for vulnerable categories of the population - the elderly, internally displaced persons, families with children, and people with disabilities.

"These buses are not just vehicles, they are a step towards restoring dignity and a normal life," one passenger noted.

Today, transport is already operating on key routes of Chernihiv, and the city government, in order to connect remote areas with educational institutions, is considering launching special school lines. 

For residents, these buses have become not only a means of transportation, but also a symbol of international support and solidarity. Each route reminds us that the world has not left Ukraine alone with its difficulties. Such decentralized cooperation between cities, communities, and public organizations shows the effectiveness of bottom-up partnerships, especially in times of crisis.

Inspired by the example of St. Gallen, other Swiss cities are also considering the possibility of transferring equipment to Ukrainian communities during the renovation of their own transport.

Chernihiv continues to recover — and it does so not only through the efforts of its residents, but also thanks to international support and partnership, which is embodied in specific actions.