Rutiera drivers suspend strike until next Chisinau Council meeting

Drivers and owners of passenger minibuses agreed to suspend their strike until the next meeting of the Chisinau City Council when they hope it will consider a raise in the fare they charge, from 3 lei to 5 lei. In case of a negative outcome, the strike will be resumed, Ion Mamaliga, president of the Private Carriers Association, has told Info-Prim Neo. Mamaliga said that people should become aware that rutieras are a public means of transport and carrying passengers in standing room is “just natural”. “People think that minibuses are a means of transport for tourists, and all the passengers want to be seated, but this is not how it works. The traffic police have finally understood that the fines they impose are exaggerated”. Mamaliga said that a list of commitments by minibus route operators will be attached to the proposal of raising the fare. However, he says, passengers should also assume some responsibilities. “There has been so much talk that minibuses must pick up and drop off passengers at designated stops only, but it's been just a couple of hours since the minibuses are back and here are the passengers, standing again at the same intersections and pedestrian crossings, which troubles not only the minibus drivers but all the motorists in the traffic flow. This is wrong. In other countries, people wait in stops, not at every lamppost. It's true, we share part of the blame for developing such a habit in our passengers, but bad habits die hard”, said Ion Mamaliga. The strike of drivers and owners of routed minibuses in Chisinau, also called rutieras or marshrutkas, lasted from Wednesday morning till Friday afternoon.