The 52-million e-ticket system in Odesa was never launched

In Odesa in 2024, not a single hryvnia was spent on implementing an electronic ticketing system for public transportation, even though 52 million 100 thousand hryvnias had been allocated for this project as part of the “Digital.Odesa” program.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations, which analyzed the Odesa City Military Administration’s report on the program’s implementation.

The electronic ticketing system is the program’s largest single initiative. Of the 52.1 million hryvnias allocated, 41.7 million were supposed to go toward ticket validators and payment terminals, and another 10.4 million hryvnias were earmarked for the fare collection software system.

However, in 2024, not a single hryvnia was allocated or spent on this project.

As noted by the Center for Policy Analysis, the report attributed this to expected changes in transportation legislation and the preparation of the relevant regulatory act. Once adopted, the e-ticket project is planned to be implemented using investment funds.

However, the report does not specify a particular investor who is to finance the project. There is also no information on the timeline for securing these funds or the title of the regulatory act to be drafted.

The e-ticket project, however, constitutes a significant portion of the entire program. In total, 71,100,000 hryvnias were allocated for the “Public Transportation and Traffic” sector in 2024.

Apart from the e-ticket, other planned projects in this area have not been launched either. In particular, in 2024, no funding was allocated for GPS modules and electronic display boards in public transportation, for which 8,750,000 hryvnias had been budgeted.

Read the full analysis by the Center for Digital Policy (CDP)—“E-tickets, Computers, and Zeros in Reports: How Millions from Odesa’s Digital Budget Were Spent”—on the website.

Андрій Колісніченко