eQueue for buses: new rules for system use approved

The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine has approved new rules for the use of the eQueue system for buses. The relevant order, dated 24 July 2025, No. 1177, has been registered with the Ministry of Justice.

The new rules aim to ensure fair mechanisms for pre-booking slots in the online queue for both regular and non-regular bus services.

The primary goal of the eQueue system for buses is to eliminate physical queues for passengers and enable advance planning for carriers.

“Our priority is to make border crossings predictable, safe, and digital. That’s why we’ve developed new rules for carriers using eQueue. We previously updated the rules for trucks, and now it’s the turn for buses. The result should be straightforward: passengers travel without queues, businesses can plan logistics and deliver goods quickly, and the state has an effective tool for managing transport flows,” said Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development.

The rules primarily regulate slot-based queue booking at checkpoints where carriers select a specific time for crossing the border, rather than joining a dynamic queue. As of August 2025, there are 23 slot-based checkpoints, while 6 operate on a dynamic queue system.

As before, carriers booking a slot for a regular route can reserve a place in eQueue up to 30 days before the border crossing date. The slot can only be booked for the time specified in the official permit for regular passenger transport (+2 hours from the permitted time).

Importantly, a slot for a regular route must be booked at least 72 hours before the crossing time. If not booked, the slot becomes available for other carriers.

Slots not allocated to regular routes remain available for booking 30 days in advance, meaning time slots without permits for regular routes.

A new feature guarantees border crossing times for carriers who consistently operate their regular routes. In simple terms, a carrier will have a reserved time slot for their regular route, allowing them to register in advance for their designated time.

However, if a carrier fails to complete more than two trips on their regular route within a month, the guaranteed slot reservation is lost for that specific route.

To enforce this, the eQueue system will review the performance of regular routes monthly.

The rules also account for the specifics of booking so-called “short” routes.

Short routes are those covering no more than 400 kilometres, where a single bus may cross the border multiple times daily.

For such routes, the system allows carriers to book as many queue slots as the number of daily border crossings permitted by their regular route authorisation.

The rules also clarify that one permit (for regular or non-regular routes) allows only one bus to cross the border. Thus, only one bus can be registered in the queue under a single permit.

As before, if there are parity carriers, only one can register for a specific time slot for the same route, meaning multiple parity carriers cannot register simultaneously for the same permitted route.

Importantly, a queue slot can be cancelled by either the user or the eQueue system. The latter may occur if false information is provided about the vehicle, driver, permit documents, or the intended checkpoint.

If false information is detected, the carrier loses the ability to book a queue slot for the affected bus for 14 calendar days.

Carriers can still replace a driver or bus in the queue, but only with vehicles and drivers listed in the carrier’s licensing file. For foreign carriers, a bus replacement is permitted only if the vehicle’s country of registration remains the same.

Notably, new features, such as guaranteed time slots and the 72-hour booking option for non-regular routes, will become available after a system update. Further information on technical updates will be announced separately.

Background

The Electronic Border Crossing Queue project is implemented by the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukrtransbezpeka, the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, the State Customs Service, and the State Border Guard Service, with support from the EU-funded Support to Strengthening Integrated Border Management (IBM) in Ukraine (EU for Solidarity Lanes and IBM) project, implemented by the International Organization for Migration in Ukraine, and the Digitalisation for Growth, Integrity and Transparency (UK DIGIT) project, implemented by the Eurasia Foundation and funded by UK Dev.