Starting today, July 1, Lux Express will run twice a day from Tallinn to Viljandi and once a day to Otepää. The bus company will also significantly increase the number of departures on the Tallinn-Tartu and Tallinn-Võru routes.

According to Ingmar Roos, CEO of Lux Express, the bus company wants to offer its passengers the most frequent route network possible so that they can plan their bus trips according to their mobility needs, and not the other way around. "Step by step, we are moving to a pre-crisis state on national routes. From today, you can travel in both directions between Tallinn and Tartu 20 times a day. In addition, we offer 6 more departures in both directions on days with higher driving demand – Fridays and Sundays.”

While the number of departures on the Tallinn-Pärnu, Tallinn-Narva and Tallinn-Kuressaare routes reached the pre-crisis level earlier, this time the addition is aimed at tightening the connections between the capital and South Estonia. For example, on the Tallinn-Tartu route, the frequency of departures will increase by as much as 25% from the 1st of July.

“Before the crisis, the majority of passengers on the Tallinn-Tartu routes were students and commuters between the two cities due to work. As the virus mostly left students and business travellers in the home office, the decrease in the number of passengers was the largest between Tallinn and Tartu. From July 1, we will cautiously increase the number of departures – we want to offer our customers a service with frequent connections again before the autumn so that people who travelled by car during the pandemic would have the confidence to start travelling again with comfortable buses,” added Roos.

In addition to the addition of Tallinn-Tartu connections, two completely new destinations will be added to the Lux Express route network as of July 1 – Viljandi and Otepää. "This summer, we have been able to expand our route network and connect as many as three Estonian centres to the capital. The Tallinn-Kärdla line, launched in June, has received a very warm reception in a couple of weeks, and this adds to the certainty that the connection of the Estonian winter capital Otepää with Tallinn will also be successful. We have been planning the connection between Tallinn and Viljandi for a long time, which is equivalent to the speed of the train and the comfort of driving for a long time, and now was the right time to make it happen,” Roos commented on the launch of the new destinations.

Schedule of new departures from 1 July:

09:30 Tallinn -> Viljandi 11:30
16:00 Tallinn -> Viljandi 18:00

07:45 Viljandi -> Tallinn 09:45
13:00 Viljandi -> Tallinn 15:00

15:30 Tallinn -> Otepää 18:45 (line ends in Võru Bus Station)
09:50 Otepää -> Tallinn 13:30 (line starts from Võru Bus Station)

Additional Tallinn-Tartu departures:

08:00 Tallinn -> Tartu (every day from July 1)
17:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (every day from July 1)
22:00 Tallinn -> Tartu (every day from July 1)
07:00 Tartu -> Tallinn (every day from July 1)
16:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (every day from July 1)
21:00 Tartu -> Tallinn (every day from July 1)

10:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
13:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
14:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
18:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
19:30 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
23:00 Tallinn -> Tartu (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
11:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
12:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
14:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
15:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
19:30 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
22:00 Tartu -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)

Additional departures from Tallinn-Võru:

10:30 Tallinn -> Võru (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)
18:15 Võru -> Tallinn (from July 1 on Fridays and Sundays)

15:30 Tallinn -> Võru (every day from July 1)
09:00 Võru -> Tallinn (every day from July 1)