Fares in the interurban passenger transport must not be raised, considers Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Anatol Salaru. He said that nobody knows the real earnings of the carriers and thus a possible rise is out of the question, Info-Prim Neo reports. The minister stated that many carriers work illegally or parasitize on the others. “We do not possess data about the earnings of the carriers. After inspections started to be carried out at bus and minibus terminals, the number of tickets bought at ticket offices almost doubled. There is a paradox. Many passengers leave Chisinau, but nobody returns. The city should be empty, judging by the number of tickets given to passengers,” Anatol Salaru said in a meeting of the tripartite commission for collective negotiations and consultations. The minister considers the fines for the drivers who work illegally should be increased and there should be made an analysis of carriers’ incomes and costs. He proposed creating an agency within the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure, which will carry out inspections to combat the illegal transportation of passengers. On the other hand, the head of the National Carriers’ Union Eugen Datsko said the firms that transport passengers are in a different situation than the drivers who do it at their own expense, often illegally. “A driver who works illegally lives with the present day and considers it is normal to collect money for tickets from passengers so as to earn money for his family. The situation at the transport firms is different. The greatest losses are sustained because of the poor quality of the roads,” said Eugen Datsko, adding that if the fares are not increased, the carriers will not have money for fuel. The carriers demand increasing the interurban fares by 20%, arguing the fuels grew dearer. The average retail price of gasoline in 2011 rose by 17.2% to 15.63 lei a liter, while the prices of diesel fuel and liquefied petroleum gas were 14.66 lei a liter and 7.5 lei a liter respectively.