Riga trolleybus 1, the city’s oldest line, has been parked for two months. And nobody’s promising it comes back the way you remember it.
The route, running since 1947 between Valmieras iela and Pētersalas iela, has been off since 10 August 2026 for the Ģertrūdes iela rebuild. Rīgas satiksme says it can’t yet confirm the same route returns when the works wrap in early 2027.
Key facts
- Trolleybus 1 closed: Monday, 10 August 2026
- Why: Ģertrūdes iela is being rebuilt between Aleksandra Čaka iela and Krišjāņa Barona iela, due to finish by early 2027
- Closest swap: bus 20, from Pētersalas iela through the centre to the Matīsa, Avotu and Valmieras iela junction
- A petition to bring the line back has more than 300 signatures on manabalss.lv
- Trolleybus 13 now runs weekdays only, with no weekend restart planned
Will trolleybus 1 come back after the Ģertrūdes iela works?
Maybe. Rīgas satiksme told LTV’s 4. studija that public transport will return to Ģertrūdes iela, but it can’t say yet whether that means the old Valmieras-to-Pētersalas line. Could be a bus. Could be a trolleybus.
“Ģertrūdes iela residents definitely won’t be left without public transport,” said Baiba Bartaševiča-Feldmane, who runs public relations at the city carrier.
If you live in Avoti, this is déjà vu. The same street works shut the line in 2021, and it took two years to come back. For now, Rīgas satiksme points riders to bus 20 and the many routes crossing Valmieras, Avotu, Čaka and Barona.
What happened to trolleybus 13 on weekends?
It’s gone Saturdays and Sundays. Trolleybus 13 runs from Ieriķu iela to Riga Central Market, so the lazy weekend ride for groceries now means a transfer.
The carrier says weekday commuters use it heavily but weekend traffic was thin. Rīgas satiksme says it has to weigh money and driver availability first, and calls the driver side “a fairly complicated issue for some time now.” No restart is planned.
It’s the same autumn of detours that shut the Ziepniekkalns overpass, sparked the €20M temporary bridge fight over Vanšu, and left Purvciems with a zebra to nowhere. Riga runs 50 bus, 22 trolleybus and seven tram lines, and about half a million people ride them every day.
Until the wires on Ģertrūdes hum again: bus 20, a transfer, and patience.
Photo: Trolleybus on Ģertrūdes iela, Svetlov Artem / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
