Economic analysts state that tariff increase is not generating increase of services’ quality in public transport

The quality of services in the public urban transport of Chisinau municipality will not become better in the light of tariff increases, the economic analyst Veaceslav Ionita and Valeriu Prohnitchi say. In an interview offered to www.moldova.org, the economic analyst Valeriu Prohnitchi declared that at least on short-term, the quality of services in transport will not increase significantly. The latest increase of the tariffs has nothing in common with changing the mentality of the drivers and it is not sufficient for renewing the public transport fleet. However, consumers must be more predisposed to demand their rights and, maybe, on long-term the quality of services will improve. Veaceslav Ionita considers that the system created by Moldova is not favorable for adjusting the “price and quality” proportion. The quoted source said that in this case, the prices are not settled on the basis of some economic reasons, but of unofficial grounds. In this way, the tariffs issue is transforming from an economic one in a politically influenced problem. At the same time, Valeriu Prohnitchi is not excluding a chain reaction which may results from these increases, and namely activating trade unions in order to obtain higher wages. Prohnitchi says that in the near future new increases of the tariffs in public transport of Chisinau will not be operated, but Veaceslav Ionita says that we can expect anything because a proper tariff estimation methodology is missing. Starting August 1, the inhabitants of Chisinau pay MDL 1 for traveling by trolleybus, 2 by bus and 3 by minibus.