Uzbekistan to open bus routes to 10 Russian cities

By Trend

Uzbekistan’s Uzavtotrans Service intends to open regular bus services with Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Samara and several other Russian cities in December 2019, Trend reports citing Uzbek media.

During the year, Uzavtotrans Service bought 168 buses from Chinese company Zhengzhou Yutong Bus for international trips to Russia and Kazakhstan, which are in demand among labor migrants. Vehicles were purchased through a loan of $20 million from Uzbekistan’s National Bank for Foreign Economic Activities.

Regular direct bus service between Russia and Uzbekistan first opened in September last year. The first Russian city where buses from Tashkent went was Nizhny Novgorod.

Two months later, bus service to Kazan was launched. The governments of the two countries signed an agreement on international vehicle communications including bus transportation back in 2000, but until recently there were no direct bus services.

In 2018, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the government to develop regular direct bus transportation to cities in other countries of Central Asia and Russia.

According to Uzbek statistics, today about 2.5 million citizens of Uzbekistan’s work abroad, including more than 2 million in Russia.