CHISINAU MARSHROOTKA PROFITABILITY IS FALLING – RTEC CHIEF

Chief of the Chisinau Municipal Electric Transport Department (RTEC), Vitalie Butucel reported at an operative meeting of the municipal services that since 2015, the profitability of Chisinau taxi minivans, aka marshroutkas, has dropped sharply.

He reminded that the marshroutka fare - 3 lei was set back in 2006. At the same time, from 2010 to 2018, there was a significant increase in the price of fuel from 11.35 lei to 16.89 lei, as well as the depreciation of the Moldovan lei to the dollar and the euro.

“That is why there has been a sharp drop in the profitability of Chisinau marshroutkas over the past three years. The operators no longer invest in the maintenance and renewal of the minibus park. From 2015 through 2018, about 800 vehicles disappeared from the municipal routes. The number of routes has been preserved, but there are fewer minibuses on each route. The suburbs, whose residents find it difficult to get to the city, were particularly affected by this fact”, he said.

Some routes may cease to exist due to the insufficient number of passengers. Some operators of such routes have already submitted applications for the suspension of work.

The RTEC Chief proposed to continue to increase the number of trolleybuses and buses, as well as to expand their routes to improve the situation with the public transport in the city, including in the suburbs. In addition, the RTEC proposes to introduce satellite GPS systems for monitoring public transport and electronic fare collection.