Tariffs for public transport use may increase in Chisinau

Chisinau, 25 August /MOLDPRES/ – The City Hall of Chisinau will initiate discussions in September on the increase of the tariffs for the public transport trip in Moldovan capital. Also, the representatives of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC) factions said they intended to talk with the economic operators to see whether the request for a price increase was justified.

According to info on behalf of the Chisinau City Hall, the discussions were initiated following the multiple requests from the municipal economic operators in the field of transport, as well as 15 private transport agents, administrators of the public transport routes.

In this respect, the General Department of Public Transport and Communications elaborated a draft decision on the increase of the tariffs for the public transport trip in Chisinau, which was submitted for examination to the CMC.

Thus, on this subject there will be public debates with the invitation of municipal councilors, experts in the field and representatives of civil society. The public and private transport operators will be invited to present the economic and financial situation of businesses and argue for the need to approve the new tariffs.

After the public discussions, based on the opinions of the CMC's specialized commissions and depending on the consultations with the CMC factions, the local executive will take a decision on the approval of the new tariffs for the public transport trip in the Chisinau municipality.

Asked by the agency, the head of the Liberal Party faction in the CMC, Ion Cebanu, specified that the discussions would thoroughly analyze all agents’ arguments for and against. "Previously, during some discussions, we specified that for a possible increase in the tariff, the conditions in the public transport must be improved, which disliked the carriers. Until economic operators are concerned about this problem, we can not talk about raising the tax. Similarly, following the public discussions we are going to make a final decision," said Cebanu.

The member of the CMC, Stanislav Vartanian, informed the agency that "the faction is going to analyze the financial indicators presented during the debates, after which a decision on a possible increase of the tax will be adopted."

Currently, a trolleybus trip costs MDL 2, and a bus trip – MDL 3. These tariffs were approved by the CMC decision in September 2009, and the tariff for a minibus trip, which is MDL 3, was established by the CMC decision in July 2006.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Raileanu)