The two candidates who proceeded to the second round of local elections in Chișinău, the Socialist Ion Ceban and the ACUM bloc candidate, Andrei Năstase, presented their solutions to the issues of public transport and parking, during the first round of ProTV Chișinău debates.
The Socialist Party mayoral hopeful, Ion Ceban, said that currently there are 377 trolleybuses in Chișinău and the municipality would need at least another 150. Similarly, there are 144 buses, while the city needs at least another 100 busses, which should be dispatched on both suburban and urban routes in Chișinău. The Socialist candidate said that Chișinău needs dedicated lanes in order to better the traffic flow and maxi-taxi vehicles that run on a strict schedule. "We will add vehicles to the Urban Bus Park and the Electric Transport Authority. Additionally, we want to create a large municipal enterprise that will manage all things related to transport. We will use municipal funds and money from external sources. We already have established partnerships with Belarus and other countries. In this regard, we can bring cheap, good quality and comfortable transport that will travel on time and will lead to a reduction of traffic jams", said Ion Ceban.
Ion Ceban added that raising tariffs for public transport is out of the question as long as people do not have high pensions and salaries. "The tariff should not be increased until we have a single electronic ticket, which would prevent theft that is currently going on", said the candidate.
The ACUM bloc mayoral hopeful, Andrei Năstase, asked why haven’t his opponent's proposals been implemented by now and why are some trolleybuses being tested at the moment, in the middle of the election race. The politician promised that there will be dedicated transport units in the suburbs and there will be dedicated lanes for special vehicles. "We will have everything, but we could have had all these things four years ago. We could have solved many of these issues in that year and a half period when we did not have an elected mayor who would have attracted European and Romanian funds for the development of the transport, its supplementation and for improving its efficiency, which is very much needed. However, none of this will happen if we do not attract external funding", said Andrei Nastase.
Both candidates said that in order to solve the parking issue in Chișinău, multi-storey car parks need to be established, while a residential parking scheme needs to be set up in courtyards.
Ion Ceban and Andrei Năstase oppose each other in the second round of local elections in Chișinău, which will be held on November 3.
