Two years ago, Tbilisi’s only night bus was introduced to connect the city centre with the airport. Now, it serves as overnight accommodation for the homeless.
In February 2017, the Route 37 bus going between Tbilisi’s central Station Square to the airport started running 24/7. The traditional small yellow buses were switched to the larger, modern blue models complete with heating.
The initiative was implemented by Tbilisi City Hall for tourists and locals not wishing to spend money on a taxi. However, the only night bus in the city quickly transformed into a portable shelter for the homeless, where the ₾0.50 ($0.20) ticket provides a warm place to rest.
While it started with just two or three people spending cold winter nights in the back row, a single bus now accommodates up to seven homeless people along with their belongings.
The first night buses enter Station Square at 23:30. Around that time, a group of homeless people gather and board separate buses in groups of two or three, making sure there are not too many people on a single bus. Some are intoxicated and fall asleep immediately, spending the entire night on the same bus, while others will get off at the airport and wait for the next bus.
The airport staff and bus drivers are quite familiar with the process.
‘It’s not just unpleasant, it’s to the shame of the country. The shame of our society, our shame’, bus driver Oleg Khutsilava says. ‘People who sleep here don’t go to the shelter [on Moscow Avenue] because they’re too drunk or unsanitary to be let in. So they come here. They get a ticket and their rights are the same as any other passenger. We feel sorry for them, but at the same time, it’s a lot of extra stress for us.’
