In the first seven month of this year, the Urban Bus Company obtained 14.7 million lei in revenue from fares, a 1% drop from the similar period last year, the service’s director Vitalie Copaci told a City Hall meeting today.

The number of passengers transported in this period, including fare-exempted beneficiaries, was 6.5 million. As of August 1, operating costs amounted to 84.2 million lei, by 4.4. million lei more, and the company had an overall debt of 17.2 million lei.

Vitalie Copaci lamented the old dilapidated vehicles, the increasing operating costs, the accumulating debts, and the dropping revenues as the main causes impeding the company’s activity.

The Bus Company operates 24 urban and suburban routes. Just 87 of its 126 vehicles are currently in service, as the average mileage of each one is around the 1 million km mark. The average employee gets a monthly salary of 7.043 lei, 10% up on the last year’s corresponding period. This is fairly above the national average, still the company had 104 vacancies as of August 1.