The public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia intends to increase prices of passenger transportation by rail by 10% from April 1. The company plans to increase the prices two more times this year.
According to a report of the Magistral media center of PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia posted on its website, the management of the company calls this decision forced, as the cost of energy, metal and all other goods purchased by Ukrzaliznytsia has increased significantly.
Director for economics and finance of Ukrzaliznytsia Andriy Riazantsev said, the last time Ukrzaliznytsia raised passenger fares in 2014, so the need to revise the cost of services was long overdue, as the consumer price index rose by at least 60-70%. The cost of utilities and other services increased 4- or 6-fold.
“If the price of diesel fuel was UAH 20,000 per ton a year ago, then it is already UAH 28,000-29,000, and the price of one passenger car from UAH 19 million in 2016 increased to UAH 30 million today. Of course, we do not support the frenzied rate of growth, but we have to react somehow,” Riazantsev said.
He also said that the funds from the first increase of the fares would be sent to develop passenger infrastructure.
In turn, acting Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov said that the services provided to passengers in terms of pricing should be divided into segments – social and commercial. The prices for tickets in first class, luxury, Intercity and night express trains should vary according to business rules: depending on demand and solvency of passengers.
“For example, today the cost of a ticket from Lviv to Odessa in a luxury car is around UAH 1,000. This is not social transportation. If we come to the conclusion that in fact the ticket should cost UAH 1,300-1,400, we must have the right to set this cost. Now the passenger is ready to pay the high cost for transportation. The market mechanism is used here. We also do the opposite things: in January the cost of tickets in the Kyiv-Warsaw train was reduced and the passenger traffic increased,” he said. (Interfax-Ukraine/Business World Magazine)
