Carriers insist on increased minibus fares

The head of the Association of Private Carriers Ion Mamaliga announced he would attend tomorrow’s meeting of the Chisinau Municipal Council, July 20, to demand increased minibus fares and the inclusion of this issue on the meeting’s agenda. Ion Mamaliga told Info-Prim Neo that one day before he had learned from one of the Council members that the issue would be included on the Friday meeting’s agenda. Mamaliga expressed his surprise that the question was overlooked again. As regards the Municipality’s condition that drivers should first respect traffic discipline and the rules of passenger transportation, in order to consider increased fares, Ion Mamaliga admitted that discipline was required of each driver and administrator, but the two issues weren’t related. According to him, increased fares were an urgent necessity because things simply couldn’t go on like that. “People understood one delay after another, but they were patient because they counted on the councilors”, explained Ion Mamaliga. Questioned why the issue wasn’t included on the agenda, Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca answered that the weekly reports showed that the violations of rules of passenger transportation were still frequent. Only during last week, 13 drivers were observed ignoring the red traffic lights. “When we see some changes in this regard, when transportation rules are respected and the carriers’ attitude becomes more responsible, we’ll consider the fares issue. Otherwise, it would mean to pay more for a risky service. It doesn't make sense”, declared the Mayor. The Chisinau Municipal Council will meet on Friday, July 20. The meeting agenda has over 50 issues, including tens of projects, but not the question of increased minibus fares.