Public transport in Tallinn

Public transport in Tallinn consists of bus, tram, trolleybus, train and ferry services. Bus, tram and trolleybus routes are mainly operated by Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS. Electric train services are offered by Elron and the ferry service to Aegna island is operated by Kihnu Veeteed (bus services) and TTTK (tram and trolleybus lines), but these companies were merged in 2012 into Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS (TLT).

Tallinn is the only city in Estonia to have ever used trams or trolleybuses. The first tram route was opened in 1888. Trolleybuses were first planned for Tallinn in 1946, but the first route to open commenced services in 1965. Since then the trolleybus network has been expanded to nine routes; however, operations began to be scaled back. In 2000 one route was closed, which was followed by another in 2012 , which was in turn followed by two further routes closing in 2015, and another route closed in 2017, leaving four lines remaining.

A light rail service in Tallinn has been planned since the 1970s. The project halted when Estonia became independent from the Soviet Union, but in the 2000s the planning resumed. The light rail would start in the city centre, usually at Vabaduse väljak ( Freedom Square) or Viru keskus (Viru shopping centre) and finish in East Lasnamäe, having 10–12 stations.

All trains depart from the Balti jaam which is the main rail station of Tallinn, located near the Baltic Sea. Elron offers local EMU services to Keila, Paldiski and Turba (works for extension to Haapsalu is currently in progress) in the west and Aegviidu in the east, as well as DMU services to Pärnu, Viljandi, Tartu and Narva, replacing Edelaraudtee on these lines since January 2014. Trains make up the backbone of fast transportation from the city centre to Nõmme, the southernmost city district of Tallinn.

Tallinn's Public Transportation Map with Main Routes and Timetable

The official map of Tallinn's public transportation of 2020 can't be shared on Wikipedia because of copyright issues, but it can be seen here: https://visittallinn.ee/static/files/010/transportation_map_2020_eng.jpg.

Tallinn public transportation timetable is available in seven languages online: Estonian, English, Finnish, Russian, German, Latvian and Lithuanian. Timetable also has built in journey planner and live map view of vehicles location. Timetable in English can be seen here: https://transport.tallinn.ee/#/en.

Commuter train timetable and journey planner can be seen here: https://elron.ee/en.

Systems

Bus

Internal

The main bus terminal in Tallinn is located in Viru keskus in the city centre, where 14 out of 72 bus routes start. Other major terminal stations include Väike-Õismäe, Keskuse, Seli, Balti jaam, Priisle, Kadaka, Vana-Pääsküla and Kopli. New public transportation terminals are planned for Lilleküla called Kristiine HUB (between current train station and Kristiine keskus) and Ülemiste (between current Ülemiste train station, T1 Mall of Tallinn and Ülemiste keskus).

Bus routes are available throughout Tallinn, especially in Pirita, Lasnamäe, Haabersti and Nõmme. Regular commuter trains do go through Nõmme district, which Elron operates, but the system is somewhat inefficient since no bus line is designed to be a "feeder line" for the commuter trains in Nõmme at the moment.

The routes and timetables are set by Tallinna Transpordiamet (Tallinn Department of Transportation). The contracts are renewed every five years. The route numbers in Tallinn consist of one or two numbers, occasionally accompanied by a letter A or B. These letters are usually used when two (or three) bus routes use mostly the same trajectory but have different end stops, for example there are bus routes 17 and 17A which both start from the same bus terminus and follow the same trajectory but have different end terminus. There has also been a special Park & Ride bus route 1PR, which was opened in September 2007 and offered service between the Pirita Park & Ride parking lot and the city centre. The route was closed from January 2009.

Nearly all routes have two terminus stops, one of which serves to drivers also as a resting stop.

Tallinn has very few "feeder lines" that connect passengers to other means of transport. For example, bus route no
57
has been shortened to a tram terminus, there used to be the bus route 25, which departed just 5 times on weekdays. It took passengers to the two trolleybus terminuses in Mustamäe, partially similarly to bus route
37
the route was closed in September 2020. There is also bus rout
21A
which used to takes passengers to the trolleybus terminus in Väike-Õismäe (trolleybus doesn't go to Väike-Õismäe anymore so it's feeder line for another bus route).

Routes mostly operate between 5:20 am and 0:20 am. Some bus routes, mainly the express routes, operate only during peak hours and have a break between 10am–11am and 2pm–3pm. From 1 September 2012, express routes have the same ticket price as regular bus routes. Express bus routes used to have letter E after number but not anymore.

From 7 November until the end of 2008 the Department of Transport carried out
pilot project
during which popular bus and trolleybus routes' operating times were prolonged until 1 am (did not continue). Also, there have been talks of night bus lines, but currently there are night bus, tram and trolleybus routes only on New Year's nights.

The scheduled intervals of buses depend on route and time of the day. Most routes to high-density districts of Lasnamäe, Väike-Õismäe, Mustamäe and Peguranna (all built during Soviet occupation) have typical intervals of 6–15 minutes, while typical scheduled bus intervals to low-density districts of Nõmme and Pirita are 12–60 minutes (some routes are operated only during rush hours and not on weekends).

Tallinn Department of Transportation bought 100 new environmentally friendly compressed gas buses Solaris Urbino 12, Solaris Urbino 12 CNG and Solaris Urbino 18, Solaris Urbino 18 CNG from Solaris Bus & Coach which started to launch into service from August 2020. In the coming years Tallinn has decided to buy more compressed gas buses totaling 350 and replace all older diesel buses by 2025. Only the newest Euro 6 emission standard-compliant diesel buses will remain in use alongside the gas buses. Such diesel buses are MAN Lion's City, MAN Lion's City A78, MAN Lions's City GL / A40, Volvo 7900, Volvo 7900 Hybrid and Irisbus Crossway, Iveco Irisbus Crossway LE SFR 161/01.

Other diesel buses currently operating but that are soon deducted from Tallinn's bus fleet are Scania K series, Scania K 270 UB4X2LB, Scania OmniLink, Scania CL94 UA6X2/2LB 300 Omnilink and Volvo 8500, Volvo B12MA.

Tallinn Department of Transportation currently owns 530 buses.

Regional

Regional bus routes are managed by the Harjumaa Ühistranspordikeskus (HÜTK) (Harju County Public Transportation Centre). The Centre was established in early 2005. The establishers were the 25 local governments of Harjumaa and the Government of the Harju County as the representative of the Republic of Estonia. The goal of the centre is to arrange public transportation in Harju County to raise quality of the service provided. The routes are drawn by HÜTK and then given to different operators. There are also about 50 commercial lines in Harju County.

Tram

The tram network is fairly short (19.7 km or 12.2 miles) and serves mainly the city centre with its surrounding areas. There are 4 tram lines and three types of trams—Tatra KT4 (bought from the German cities of Gera, Cottbus, Frankfurt, and Erfurt) and Tatra KTNF6, which basically is a Tatra KT4 with a lowered middle-section, and CAF Urbos, CAF Urbos AXL. Twenty new CAF Urbos AXL trams entered service in 2015/16. Altogether there are 70 trams in Tallinn but only about half of them are in daily use.

A line 4 extension to Tallinn Airport was opened on September 1, 2017, consisting of 2 new stops: and Lennujaam (Airport). A tunnel was built to bypass the train tracks by Ülemiste jaam. 6 old Tatra KT4 trams were fully renovated in 2016–2017 to imitate the look of early 20th century trams. All of them operate on line 3. 12 old Tatra KT6s and 2 KT4s were fully modernized in 2017–2018. This means that new or fully modernized trams make up about 57% of all trams in Tallinn.

International procurement for purchasing 8 new trams to Tallinn was started in late 2019 with option to buy 15 more. In 2022, the Polish company Pojazdy Szynowe Pesa Bydgoszcz, Pojazdy Szynowe PESA Bydgoszcz (PESA) won the public procurement of new trams, supplying up to 23 new trams to TLT for 50 million euros. The first new trams should be delivered in 2024. The tram model offered by PESA is Pesa Twist, PESA Twist, which is adapted to the gauge of Tallinn. The 28.6-meter-long, five-door trams can accommodate a total of 300 passengers (65 seats). In addition to PESA, two other tenderers took part in this procurement but lost to PESA: the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) and the joint Finnish-Czech tenderers Škoda Transtech and Škoda Transportation.

The tram system is operated by TLT.

Trolleybus

Trolleybuses serve the western part of Tallinn, mainly Mustamäe district. Trolleybus service began in 1965 with a route from the Estonian National Opera "Estonia" to Hipodroom (Hippodrome). Currently there are 4 routes: 1, 3, 4 and 5 from city centre (Kaubamaja and Balti jaam) to Mustamäe. In 2000 Trolleybus line nr 8 was replaced with bus line nr 22, on 1 December 2012 trolleybus line nr 2 was replaced with bus lines 24 and 24A (24A closed by now), on 1 January 2016 trolleybus lines nr 6 and 7 were replaced with hybrid buses nr 42 and 43 and on 2 May 2017 trolleybus line nr 9 was replaced by hybrid buses (line 72).

All trolleybus lines are scheduled typically with 8-15 minute interval between two vehicles of the same line.

TLT uses Solaris Trollino 12 and Solaris Trollino 18 trolleybuses made by Solaris Bus & Coach. TLT AS operates with 50 trolleybuses.

There was also a planned route (nr 10) from Väike-Õismäe to Kopli but it never opened.

Commuter Train

The Elron commuter trains are especially meant for the Greater Tallinn Area Harju County residents for a connection to Tallinn. Routes are also used by city residents, especially of Nõmme district, the southernmost district of Tallinn. Railway lines pass through Kristiine, Nõmme and Lasnamäe districts of the city, with terminus stop Balti jaam (Baltic Station near the Baltic Sea, hence the name) being located in the Kesklinn, Tallinn, Kesklinn district close to Põhja-Tallinn district. Railway transport is free for registered city residents inside the city borders (1st zone): till Sõjamäe, Vesse stop on Eastern line, Laagri, Tallinn, Laagri stop on Western line and Männiku, Saku Parish, Männiku stop on South-Western line. Trains inside of Tallinn are scheduled typically with 10-20 minute interval at rush hour (6 am - 8:30 am and 3:30 pm – 18:30 pm) and 25 - 35 minute interval at other times. Trains are in service typically from 5:15 am to 23:45, depending on the direction and line. Nõmme district has installed bicycle parking to every railway station in the district to encourage commuter train use by its residents. Currently there are no appropriate feeder bus routes for the commuter train in Nõmme district.

Elron operates Stadler Flirt EMU and DMU trains from 2013. New Škoda 7Ev electric commuter trains are meant to start operating together with Stadler Flirts beginning from 2024. New trains are mainly meant for Tallinn - Tartu line but since Estonia's main train depot is situated in Nõmme district it is most likely that operations inside of Tallinn will be made by both companies commuter trains.

Ferry

Tallinn has one ferry connection to Aegna island, operated by Kihnu Veeteed

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