Increasing the price of a trip in municipal public transport is necessary to avoid the bankruptcy of municipal passenger transport companies.
The mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, argued economically the proposal to increase the tariff for a trip in municipal public transport, stating that this was done to avoid the bankruptcy of the Urban Bus Park and the Electric Transport Authority.
“In 2011, 50.4 million lei were allocated from the municipal budget for subsidizing public transport, in 2021 the subsidies increased 14-fold, up to 700 million lei, and this was done without taking into account the energy prices, electricity and fuel. In the conditions of the price increases for electricity and fuels, in 2022, the subsidy for public transport would increase up to about 800 million lei,” said he.
According to the mayor, “every sixth lei that the city of Chisinau earns is allocated to subsidize public transport”.
“If the prices for municipal public transport do not increase, the municipal passenger transport companies will go bankrupt,” Ceban said
He mentioned that in order to protect the inhabitants of the municipality, the methodology for setting the price of a trip in municipal public transport had been unified and involved a capping of the fare so that from an average salary it was possible to buy at least 1,670 trips and for those who would purchase season tickets the price of a trip would be 2-3 times lower.
“Certain categories of people, retirees and children, will continue to travel for free,” Ceban said.
The last change in the price of a trip by public transport in Chisinau took place in 2009. Currently a trip by trolleybus costs 2 lei and by bus – 3 lei. (Moldpres/Business World Magazine)