Vilnius mayor speaks out on the capital's bus station

Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas says the technical design for a new bus station has reached its halfway point, with a construction permit expected in spring 2027.

The project will create a modern station beside the current one in the southern part of central Vilnius, next to the city's railway station. Benkunskas described the existing facility as regrettably outdated and framed its replacement as a matter of basic standards and civic self-respect.

The new station would include substantial underground space, shelters and new parking areas. The infrastructure would be handed over to an operator selected through a tender, while the city would retain the modernized facility. The project is being designed together with the railway station area and its surrounding public space.

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I would view it more as a matter of basic standards and self-respect. We now have to admit that we really have a regrettably outdated station.

Vilnius Municipality signed a design agreement with Zaha Hadid Architects on September 12, 2025. The contract, valued at 4.05 million euros excluding VAT, covers proposals for the railway station square, its surroundings and the public transport terminal. It also includes the technical design, a building information model, the construction permit, project documents and supervision throughout construction.

The municipality says the project is complex because it must bring together pedestrians, cyclists, cars, intercity buses, city buses and the railway station connection while keeping movement continuous. Construction stages must also allow public and intercity bus services to continue throughout the work. Heritage-protection rules apply to the area as well.

The municipality estimates that construction could last about two years. It has not yet determined how much the construction itself would cost.

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A new city station will be born there. We will build it and hand it over, through a tender, to an operator, but the infrastructure itself will already be modern.