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 has decreased year on year.

"This morning, I checked the numbers, and so far this year — January is, of course, a very low period — the average number of passengers per departure has been 24. That means a 40 percent 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 percent 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 has 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—ed.], 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 percent 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 travel 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 Estonian bus companies transport passengers to Russia

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 Pärnu 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 is 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 €43 million, with a profit of €12.2 million. Ecolines had a turnover of €8.3 million and a profit of over €581,000.

Presto, which exclusively operates on the St. Petersburg route, had a turnover of nearly €838,000 and a profit of €60,195. Baltic Shuttle earned a profit of €626,000 on a turnover of €1.6 million, while Anniston reported a turnover of €877,000 and a profit of nearly €143,700.

Roos said Lux Express's financial performance related to its Russia-bound routes has 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 continue 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.

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