RIGA, Feb 18 (LETA) - The number of passengers carried last year on subsidized regional transport routes grew by 1.4 million people, or 3.5 percent, to 40.98 million people, LETA was told at the Road Transport Administration.

Of these passengers, 21.53 million were carried on regional bus routes in 2024, down 4.3 percent from a year before, while the number of rail passengers traveling on regional routes grew 13.9 percent year-on-year to 19.45 million.

The share of rail passengers in the total number of passengers carried on regional routes grew to 47 percent in 2024 from 43 percent a year before, which means that the share of rail transport increased by 4 percent.

Representatives of the Road Transport Administration attributed the trend to improved rail services, new routes and an increasing convenience and availability of public transport.

Including passengers using commercial transportation services, a total of 41.79 million passengers were carried on the regional network last year, of which 51.5 percent were carried on subsidized bus routes, 1.9 percent on routes operated by commercial service providers and 46.6 percent on railway routes.

The Road Transport Administration is the transport authority implementing a unified state policy in the field of international transport, business licensing of road transport commercial transport, as well as public transport planning.