The Verkhovna Rada has registered a draft law aimed at replacing old minibuses. Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy says the document will make it possible to demand quality from carriers. However, as he said on the air Ukrainian Radio Viktor Medvid, director of the consulting company, said the proposed changes pose corruption risks.
What the draft law provides for
According to the project lawThe purpose of the draft law is to improve the legislative regulation of the market for road and urban electric transport services in Ukraine and to establish new rules for the selection of road carriers. In addition, it is planned to adapt the legislation to the norms of the European Union.
According to the authors of the document, the main problematic issues in the field of passenger transportation by road are:
- Lack of modern large-sized vehicles, including low-floor vehicles, to meet the needs of transport consumers, including people with disabilities;
- unstable public transportation schedules;
- an imperfect mechanism for compensating passenger transport companies for the transportation of privileged passengers;
- a decrease in the number of solvent passengers.
At the same time, according to the explanatory note, private carriers carry out the bulk of the transportation based on the results of tenders held by transportation organizers. However, the rate of renewal of the rolling stock fleet does not meet current needs, and some vehicles are outdated in terms of design and passenger capacity. In particular, most of the buses that currently run in Ukraine have been in operation for more than 10 years.
"The draft law proposes: to establish the principle of equal access to infrastructure services, which applies to all persons interested in receiving such services; to introduce a system of providing socially important services for the transportation of passengers by road routes, lines, routes of urban electric transport, as well as a system for receiving payment for such services and financial compensation paid to carriers of socially important services; to establish new measures of influence on carriers and rules that will regulate all aspects of
The project was initiated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Will the proposed law work?
According to Viktor Medved, director of William-Invest-Expert consulting company, the main purpose of the law is to conduct tenders in a different way.
"Previously, the relevant routes were put up for tender with the relevant requirements for carriers in terms of the number of buses, their comfort indicators, etc., but now, to participate in the tender, companies must compete for the price of a conditional one kilometer of a conditional type of transport and a passenger seat. That is, the one with the cheaper offer will win the tender," he said.
Medved noted that the changes proposed by the bill could lead to cheaper transportation and corruption risks.
"When it comes to the possibility of reducing the cost of servicing the relevant routes, there are two payment options: the passenger can pay for the ticket for the service, and the customer can use the corresponding payments to pay for, in particular, unprofitable routes that he orders. Therefore, the changes proposed by the draft law may lead to the fact that, on the one hand, we can get cheaper transportation, and on the other hand, corruption factors are introduced, which will subsidize some and not others. In addition, a negative factor is the introduction of an intermediary between the passenger and the carrier as a customer who directly carries out financial and economic settlements. The customer can also transfer funds for this route in full, and the carrier can collect these funds through tickets. Thus, we can pay twice for the same service. And due to corruption-related factors, there is a possibility that the relevant regulatory authorities will not record a double charge for the same route. Therefore, under the slogans of "improving comfort" there are many issues that are in no way related to comfort indicators, but rather to changing the system of transport financing in Ukraine," he explained.
The expert added that "the new draft law does not change much, as it does not provide for funding. Even if the law enshrines the comfort indicators, there is no way to get the funds to implement this system. Therefore, the draft law as it stands creates conditions for redistribution of the existing transportation market."
"If local authorities order good and comfortable buses, and not some other kind, then only carriers with appropriate buses can be involved in these tenders. That is, the law does not change anything regarding comfort indicators," the expert noted.
Medved also noted that "each city or village has different requirements for the respective types of transportation. Accordingly, even in different districts of Kyiv, there are different requirements for different types of transport, including the number of seats, comfort, etc. Therefore, local authorities can currently leave taxis in place without adopting a law."
"The minibuses are of low quality because there is little competition on the transportation routes. Carriers do not have enough money to upgrade, as the cost of cash for the purchase of relevant fixed assets is approximately equal to the cost of profitability in these areas. Therefore, carriers use used vehicles or other means that do not meet modern requirements. And all this is done in the absence of a policy on financing the renewal of vehicles," the expert added.
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