Fares on suburban public transport routes have been unreasonably increased: can the city council influence the situation?
On Saturday, October 7, carriers that transport passengers on a number of suburban public transport routes increased the fare. The increase in the price of the tariff took place on a number of bus routes, the customer of which was at one time the Drohobytsk District Military Administration and the Lviv Regional Military Administration.
This was reported in Drohobytskyi City Council.
We will remind, after the administrative-territorial reform, the right to hold tenders for the implementation of public transport on suburban routes was supposed to pass into the hands of the local self-government body. Accordingly, the Drohobytsk City Council should hold tenders for transportation in the villages of the community.
However, the district administration, which held a competition for transportation earlier, took advantage of the martial law and automatically extended the existing contracts with carriers. Therefore, for the third year in a row, the Drohobytsk City Council has been deprived of the right to control transportation in part of the villages of our community.
DRVA, in turn, ignores repeated appeals by the Drogobytsk City Council and does not provide answers regarding the validity of contracts with carriers and their validity period. In particular, the last one, which was sent on September 19.
Residents of our community have repeatedly complained about the quality of bus transportation, non-compliance by carriers with schedules and routes in the villages of our community, especially on weekends, as well as the lack of evening flights. The last straw in this matter was the unjustified increase in fares by carriers.
Residents of our community ride these buses. People come to us with complaints and their indignation is completely justified. Because the fares were raised arbitrarily and unreasonably. We, as a local self-government body, must have an influence on carriers, on the quality of transportation and the cost of travel. However, as of today, the Drohobytsk RVA has such influence. We hope that the military administration is also not indifferent to people’s complaints and they will take the necessary actions from their side – emphasized the mayor Taras Kuchma.
In accordance with the mayor’s order, a working group was created in the city council, which is developing a plan for further actions, starting with appeals to LOVA and the Antimonopoly Committee and ending with the development of new suburban public transport routes.
Having developed new routes, the city council will have the right to hold a competition and conclude agreements with carriers, approving an economically justified fare for travel. The city will also be able to monitor carriers for compliance with the terms of the contract, quality of transportation and fares.
In a number of villages of the community, thanks to the concerted actions of the city council and individual carriers, the tariff remained unchanged. The Drohobytsk City Council expresses its gratitude to the carriers who treated the situation with understanding and did not increase the fare. Negotiations are underway with carriers who have raised the price of transportation. Also, the mayor of Drohobych initiates a joint meeting, with the participation of the heads of other territorial communities, with the aim of sending a joint appeal to the Lviv Regional Military Administration to prevent an increase in tariffs for public transportation.