Soviet Bus Graveyard, Lithuania

This Soviet Bus graveyard is a vibrant wonderland of peeling paint and brilliant colour palettes. These buses are a vibrant spectrum of colours, from yellow to red to blue. The buses were probably brought here after they had been taken out of service, sometime between 2005 and 2014. It appears that most of the buses have been abandoned to deteriorate with the passage of time. Rotting in place, and rusting in peace. However, there is also evidence that some of them have been stripped for parts.

There are primarily PAZ-672 and PAZ-3205 buses from the 1960s through the 1990s. There are also a few more modern buses here, notably some manufactured by Volvo. Several of them even have German-language signs inside, making one wonder why they were driven all the way to Lithuania and then abandoned here.

I visited this location during my 2019 Baltics Tour. This Soviet Bus Graveyard was without a doubt one of the most memorable parts of my vacation for me because the old relics here are so different in comparison to those found in England. I adored the textures and hues of the buses, as well as the opportunity to take photographs of their reflections in some well-positioned puddles!

паз-672 (PAZ-672) buses

The ПАЗ-672 (PAZ-672) is a Soviet-built bus, produced by the Pavlovsk Bus Plant (Pavlovsky Avtobusny Zavod, or PAZ) between 1967 and 1989. This company was a subsidiary from the larger automotive company (Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, or GAZ) which produced many of the trucks and cars for the USSR.

These small buses served city and suburban routes; routes with low numbers of passengers. The PAZ-672 could seat 23 passengers, with an “official” for around 20 additional standing passengers. In reality, it was not uncommon for up to 100 people to pack onto these busy on busy city routes!

This PAZ-672 was eventually taken off the market in 1989. Despite this, these buses were still a common sight in the 1990s and even the 2000s. Serving as school buses and rural connecting services (sometimes, even hearses!). The suceeding PAZ-3205 model, is still produced today and remains a popular minibus in Eastern Europe as well as Russia.