Moldova's road passenger transport strongly hit by pandemic crisis

14:53 | 23.09.2020 Category: Economic

Chisinau, 23 September /MOLDPRES/ - The passenger transport sector decreased by 48.8 per cent in the first half of 2020 against the same period of the year before. In January-July this year, 29.8 million people were carried by mini-buses, which is by 48.6 per cent less against the same period of 2019.

The problem of illicit passenger transport, quality of services provided by road operators, as well as the difficulties faced at the servicing of the present routes were the main subjects of a working meeting summoned by Economics and Infrastructure Minister Sergiu Railean with the leadership of the National Road Transport Agency (ANTA) today.

According to the Economics and Infrastructure Ministry (MEI), at the meeting, Sergiu Railean said that the road passenger transport, which has a share of over 90 per cent of the passenger transport, had been dramatically hit by the pandemic crisis. The minister referred to the need to re-launch the road passenger transport sector and return to the volume of work recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘’On the period of the pandemic, the passenger transport was worst hit, with both the carriers and passengers being directly affected. Yet, we should gradually get back to the full capacity of the sector’s work, reestablish the flow of passengers and provide the settlements with qualitative services in all directions of transport demanded by citizens, especially to social and medical institutions,’’ Sergiu Railean said.

The official also instructed that ANTA carries out controls and identifies measures for all cases of illicit transport reported and the ministry, for its turn, will intervene with the necessary amendments to the legal framework. As for the problems on the servicing of the transport routes from several villages and of the central Ialoveni and Hancesti districts, the participants in the meeting identified all needed solutions and ANTA is to monitor their implementation.

Photo source: www.mei.gov.md

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