The administrative integration of the Chisinau Electric Transport Company and the Urban Bus Company by reducing the duties that are doubled and by improving personnel management could contribute to increasing the productivity and reducing salary-related costs, experts of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IRPE) stated in public hearings, IPN reports.
The experts said the revenues from transporting passengers do not cover the personnel-related costs. The Chisinau Electric Transport Company has 6.8 employees per trolleybus, while the same ratio at the Urban Bus Company is of 1: 5.06. For comparison, the public transport operators in Europe and the U.S. have only 3.5 employees per unit of transport. Thus, reducing the ratio to 5 employees per unit of transport would generate savings of about 57 million lei a year at the company.
At the same time, the implementation of the electronic taxation system will enable to reduce fraud by at least 25% and the additional incomes will total 58 million lei. This measure will enable to obtain correct information about the flow of passengers, which will enable to work out a more transparent formula as regards the cost of a trip by public transport.
IPRE expert Stanislav Ghiletski said the merger of the two companies by creating the Chisinau Transport Company with one administration, with integrated electronic taxation, with transparent financial planning and with the plenary involvement of the citizens and civil society in the process of managing and planning routes, will be a first step towards developing transport in Chisinau municipality.
IPRE is a research and analysis center founded by national and foreign experts, former government officials, public functionaries and career diplomats.
