War, reconstruction, and filming: how Polissia bus station looks like now

The Polissia bus station was built in 1961, which was the time when large-scale construction of bus stations in Ukraine took place. It used to be a typical Soviet building with high ceilings, a large waiting room, and ticket offices.

In March 2020, Polissia and 23 other bus stations were transferred to Kyivpassaservice at an auction, which already announced the planned reconstruction. The pandemic and the war made adjustments to the timeline, but today Polissia is a modern bus station with a spacious waiting room, new restrooms, a baby care room, and a food court. 

Read the MAPA article to find out how the bus harbor has evolved from a Soviet building to a modern bus station.

The war

Before the war, buses left the Polissia bus station every 10 minutes. According to the head of the bus station, Tetiana Didkovska, up to a thousand tickets were bought per day, and 2.7 thousand were bought on holidays or weekends. 

“There were a lot of passengers, because before the war we had international bus service with Belarus, as well as Chernihiv and the Chornobyl direction (Ivankovo, Ovruch),” says the head of the bus harbor.

On February 24, 2022, passenger traffic stopped. 

“I was woken up by a call from a colleague (I live outside the city) who said: 'Kyiv is being bombed. The dispatcher and two cashiers came to the station, buses arrived, which then turned around and left. It was decided not to open the bus station, it was not only dangerous, but also impossible: there were kilometer-long traffic jams, no one understood what to do,” says Tetiana Didkovska.

On the third day of the war, the alarm went off and it became clear that the terrorists had entered the building. It should be noted that there is still a block structure behind the bus station.

In June 2022, the terrorist defense left the bus station and the employees returned.

Modernization

In the summer of 2024, a large-scale modernization of the building began, which lasted three months. And in September, the reconstructed Polissia bus station was launched. 

The building was completely renovated, with a new childcare room, restrooms, a spacious waiting room, an automatic luggage storage facility, and a food court. 

A special feature of the bus station is a large picturesque green area. 

“I have been working here for 18 years. I love my bus station. There was one small break: I left the bus station to work in the Kyiv subway as a senior cashier. I realized that this was not my thing. I started working as the head of the Demiivska bus station. One day the general manager called me and asked: “Are you going back to Polissia?”. I barely worked two weeks and came back. Since then, I've been here... You know, in the warm seasons, there is just a smell of flowers and blossoms. I've never seen anything like it at any other bus station,” summarizes Tetiana Didkovska, adding that movies and TV series are often filmed at the bus station because of its uniqueness and territory.

Now the main thing is suburban transportation. There are about 70 bus trips a day. As for Belarus, it is clear that the connection is closed. The direction to Ovruch has slipped a lot, because the carrier has to make a big detour because of the war and the blown-up bridge crossings. The route to Chernihiv has disappeared altogether.

Today, most passengers travel to Desna, Ivankiv and the Chornobyl side.