The chairman of the Board of the Employers Association of Road Transport Operators Oleg Alexa said the carriers are ready to improve the travel conditions for passengers if they are assured that their investments will be refunded. Making statements for the press amid the protest staged by interurban route drivers, Oleg Alexa said some of the villages remained today without public transport because the carriers want the fares to be raised, IPN reports.
This is the carriers’ third strike action so far this year. If the problem is no solved, the carriers will mount protests of a larger scale, stated Oleg Alexa. He admitted that the motor vehicles are old, but noted they do not have money to renew them. “The interest rate on bank loans is currently higher than our profit. The financing comes from one source only, the passenger. The state does not give us anything. On the contrary, it takes whatever it can.”
The carriers demand that the fare should be raised from 48 bani/km to 74 bani/km. “Today they cannot raise the fare because there are elections. Tomorrow we will have new elections, then snap, local presidential elections and so on. They have told us the time is not opportune to increase fares for six years already,” stated the chairman of the Board of the Employers Association of Road Transport Operators.
“Our protest will be rerun if we are not heard. They are dissatisfied with some aspects of our activity. We told them we are ready to discuss, to consider their conditions and expectations, but all these changes cost and thecosts should be included in the fare.”
In a press release, the Ministry of Economy and infrastructure said Minister Anatolie Usatîi had a meeting with representatives of passenger carriers. He reiterated that the authorities realize the fare issue has been neglected for many years. On the other hand, he told the representatives of carriers that their approach looks like an ultimatum and they should take into account the quality and safety of the services provided for passengers. The Ministry initiated consultations on the platform of its Consultative Council so as to identify the problems that contribute to stagnation in the field and to solve them.
The December 11 protest lasted for over two hours. The drivers of over 300 minibuses running on interurban routes parked the vehicles in the Great National Assembly Square of Chisinau to show their protest at the authorities’ delay in increasing fares on their demand. More than 1,000 routes were suspended. The section of Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Blvd between the streets Mitropolit Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni and Pushkin was blocked. The public transport units were rerouted.
