The maxi-taxi operators working in Chisinau expect a clear view about the future of this type of transport in the municipality from the Chisinau City Hall given that Prime Minister Ion Chicu said the minibuses should be removed from the capital city, IPN reports.
In public debates held at the City Hall, chairman of the Board of the Employers Association of Motor Transport Operators Oleg Alexa asked the municipal officials in charge of transport if the minibuses are still needed in Chisinau. He reiterated that to be able to keep the current fare of 3 lei, the municipality should provide subsidies to the carriers, an estimated 70 million lei in total. If an extra 30 million lei is needed, the pensioners could travel free. Nowadays, Chisinau cannot cope without minibuses as these run in areas where the trolleybuses and buses do not run. The carriers should finalize the calculations together with the City Hall and should transmit them to the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC).
Lilian Copaci, acting head of the General Public Transport and Communications Division, said the Division’s specialists are examining the calculations presented by maxi-taxi operators. According to the strategy for developing public transport of 2014, the role of large public transport units is to be increased, while the area of small vehicles will be extended to cover the suburban communities and quarters where buses and trolleybuses do not run.
Municipal councilor Iurie Tesa said the municipality now needs minibuses and the Premier’s statements about the removal of minibuses are regrettable. “We are obliged to find the optimal solution to satisfy all sides,” he stated.
Councilor Corneliu Pântea said he studied the requests of carriers and asked that information about the situation of public transport should be presented in the next meeting of the CMC. “Currently, as far as I understand, it is not possible to fully exclude the 700 minibuses that daily run on routes,” he said, noting a solution is to increase the fare to 5-6 lei or to apply a subsidization mechanism for maxi-taxi operators.
Councilor Sergiu Tofilat noted the Chisinau City Hall should work out an urban mobility plan that would stipulate the routes that should be kept. The policies to subsidize the carriers are not appropriate and the travellers who cannot pay should be actually subsidized.
According to the General Public Transport and Communications Division, 14 managers of 44 minibus routes work based on the old contracts dating from 2005 and temporary contracts were signed for the routes that appeared later, until the next contest.
The drivers from some of the municipal routes protested on February 24, until 10am. They asked to be invited to discussions with the City Hall’s executive.
