GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS TRANSPORTERS’ DECISION TO CANCEL 600 ROUTES ON WEDNESDAY DUE TO PROTEST

The Government condemned the decision of passenger transporting companies to cancel 600 routes through the country in connection with their protest against the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure’s refusal to raise tariffs on passenger transportation.

The ministry maintains that first of all ordinary citizens will have to suffer from movement blocking.

“Passengers must be ensured with civilized conditions for traveling, including minibuses and buses, from the very beginning designed exclusively for passenger transportations. Only after fulfilling these conditions, the transporters’ demand on tariff correction may be discussed”, the ministry says.

According to it, currently amendments to the Code of Automobile Transport are being developed. The draft law has already been presented to the Consultative Board for Automobile Transport, which is made of all the existing associations of employers in the branch. Transporters’ demands have been taken into account, which will allow resolving the problem of passenger flow and optimizing the transporters services.

It is planned to put the project for public consultations, which will allow everyone to express themselves on the quality and methods of servicing by Moldovan transporters.

As Infotag has already reported, the Association of Employers of Road Transport Operators (APOTA) insists on the need of raising the tariff for passenger transportation to 0.92 lei per 1 km from the 0.48 lei, which was established back in 2012, under the pretext that transporters suffer losses. They announced that on Wednesday noon they plan a new protest in front of the Government and in country raion centers, in which at least 450 minibuses will take part, due to which a number of routes will be cancelled.

After the first protest on September 12 the ministry said it is ready to dialog with transporters, but demands a clear action plan, including gradual correction of prices, taking into account citizens’ payment capacity. Besides, before raising tariffs, transporters have to renew the vehicle fleet and raise the quality of the delivered services.