Iceland to Cut Bus Routes and Reduce Services to Manage Costs

Iceland's public transport system is undergoing changes as the national road administration, Vegagerðin, plans to discontinue one route and reduce service on others starting this autumn. These adjustments are being made to keep operational costs within the allocated budget. Specifically, Route 73, which serves the highlands of South Iceland, will be eliminated. Vegagerðin stated that the utilization of this route has been very low, with only 773 passengers recorded in 2025. Despite this low number, the statistics show that Route 73 had more passengers annually than several other routes (62, 72, 81, 84, and 94) between 2021 and 2025. No changes are planned for twenty of the 25 routes in the nationwide network. Additionally, the frequency of services on Route 50 to Akranes will decrease from twelve to eleven weekday trips. Route 51, which is the busiest route in the network, will see its daily weekday trips reduced from sixteen to fourteen. Vegagerðin explained that after an increase in trips at the beginning of the year, the utilization of Route 51 was not sufficient to maintain the higher frequency. Route 71 will also see a reduction, with four daily weekday trips instead of five. One route, Route 61, which was not operated in the summer, was used 159 times in 2025. These changes reflect an effort to optimize resource allocation within the public transportation system.