Mayor General of Chisinau municipality Dorin Chirtoaca considers there is no need to increase the minibus fares and the minibus route administrators should comply. The issue was discussed in the program “Emphasis on today” on TVR Moldova channel, IPN reports.

“I do not see preconditions for increasing minibus fares. I don’t think they will have so many passengers if a trip by minibus costs 10 lei, as they want. It will be problematic even if a trip costs 5 lei. There is a procedure for approving the tariff and it must be followed. The calculations should be presented to the Transport Division and then examined by the Municipal Council. Like it or not, but these are the rules of the game and they should be respected,” stated the mayor.

Dorin Chirtoaca criticized the court decision that obliges the minibus drivers to make sure that the number of passengers is not larger than that of seats. “For almost 30 years, the capital city has used this kind of transport. The people travelled standing for so long and nobody complained. The minibus routes were instituted because the authorities didn’t have money to provide the population with public transport. The solution does not come in one day. Time is needed for the City Hall to acquire the number of units of public transport required in the capital city,” he said.