E-ticketing and direct agreements with carriers could save Odesa's transportation situation

The introduction of direct agreements and settlements between carriers and the municipality and non-cash payments could improve the situation with the organization of passenger transportation in Odesa.

This opinion was expressed live on Intent.Insight by Dmytro Zheman, former head of the Odesmiselectrotrans utility and former deputy mayor of Odesa.

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He noted that currently, the carrier's profit depends on the number of passengers who use its services, which is why drivers often try to beat competitors in pursuit of passengers in violation of the rules, or vice versa, ignore passengers if there are few of them in the parking lot. And sometimes they may not even go out on routes when the number of passengers is decreasing.

According to Dmytro Zheman, if the carrier's profit depended on a direct agreement with the municipality, the situation would improve.

"How should it be? The customer for the carrier's services is the city government. Payment for services depends on the length of the route, the number of stops, not on the number of passengers transported, and the carrier receives payment from the city authorities under the agreement. Then the entrepreneur could develop a strategy, hire new buses, and his task would be to ensure the quality of transportation. And the city authorities would receive the money from the passengers in cash," said Dmytro Zheman.

He emphasized that currently all urban transport in the world receives subsidies, more or less, meaning that the authorities always maintain public transport at the expense of the budget.

Starting from today, December 1,fares for fixed-route taxis and city electric transport in Odesa have risen to UAH 20 and UAH 15 respectively. This means that tram or trolleybus fares in the city have risen from eight hryvnias to 15 hryvnias, and minibus fares from 15 to 20 hryvnias.

Meanwhile, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov ordered the termination of the working group on the implementation of the Electronic Ticket project in Odesa public transport.

It had been working for almost eight years since December 7, 2015. However, the working group's report has not been published on the city council's website. The e-ticket, which was repeatedly failed and postponed, was finally presented in Odesa on October 6, 2020. Prior to that, participants in public hearings on the introduction of new rules for the use of public passenger, automobile, and electric transport in Odesa, held on November 29, 2019 , approved the project proposed by the mayor's office.

Кирило Бойко