Domestic Carriers: We Are Offering Our Buses to the Government of the Republic of Croatia for the Transportation of Refugees from Ukraine

The largest domestic carriers, Arriva and Čazmatrans, as well as other carriers gathered in the Association of Croatian Public Bus Carriers (UHAJLP), announced today that in light of the horrific war events in Ukraine and the increasing number of arrivals of displaced persons and refugees from the war zone, they are ready to make part of their fleet available to the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the civil protection headquarters, and the Croatian Red Cross with the aim of providing the highest quality and fastest assistance.

The carriers are ready to provide their buses and drivers for the transportation of refugees from the Ukrainian border areas to Croatia.

– The refugee crisis is at our doorstep; we are currently witnessing huge crowds and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine in various ways. We want to contribute with personnel and vehicles because it is our responsibility, but also the only way to organize and efficiently transport refugees from the Ukrainian border to the designated locations in Croatia. Numerous counties have announced that they already have prepared capacities for the accommodation of hundreds of victims. Therefore, we invite them to contact us, in coordination with the civil protection headquarters, so that we can transport a larger number of refugees to the locations they have designated. Likewise, we are at the disposal of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for anything else that is needed to address this crisis – emphasized Dražen Divjak, General Director of Arriva in Croatia, on behalf of the Association of Croatian Public Bus Carriers.

UHAJLP gathers large and small domestic private companies that make up the domestic transport system with huge capacities, thousands of buses, and over 8000 workers. This is a system that has strategic importance for the Republic of Croatia and would have struggled to survive during the pandemic if the Government had not preserved it with its measures over the last two years. Likewise, the carriers are partners with a large part of local and regional self-government and are now ready to give back to the community in which they operate and function through assistance in addressing at least part of the refugee crisis that Ukraine is facing.