I. Metshin: "The growth of rate of transport shall not exceed the rate of inflation"

(Kazan City KZN.RU, March 3, Zilya Gayfi). Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin urgently gathered representatives of transport companies today in the city's Executive Committee. The reason for the meeting was an open letter on behalf of the 13 carriers, addressed to the Mayor of Kazan, the Minister of Transport and Roads Lenar Safin and chairman of the State Committee on tariffs of RT Marat Zaripov, published yesterday. In their letter, carriers have raised the question of the need to increase tariffs in public transport of Kazan at least at 28 rubles. The workshop was attended by the head of the Executive Committee Denis Kalinkin, Chairman of Transport Committee Aidar Abdulhakov and the heads of major municipal and private transport companies.

Ilsur Metshin greeted carriers, noting that in a letter sensitive issues that require immediate consideration were presented. "If tariffs will maintain at the same level, tomorrow number of buses on the routes will be reduced by a quarter. This statement is strong, disturbing. We are always are in close contact, in the dialogue with our carriers. We must carefully discuss the issue", - said the Mayor and invited the meeting to justify the increase of tariff to 28 rubles.

The first word on the rights of the oldest carrier of Kazan the director of MUE "MTE-4" Nail Sadreev took. He thanked the city head for the opportunity to state the case. "We were knocking on different doors on the question of tariff increase. The last time we addressed the Tariff Committee in September last year. Financial and economic activity were required, we have provided it. However, we have not received an answer. All carriers gathered here are working in the travel industry not the first year. Regardless of whether they serve two routes or 22, they are at a critical point. Each accumulated large debts, "- he said.

According to Nail Sadreev, the deplorable situation is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that in the "MTE-4" of the 22 routes only 4 are more or less profitable, others are on the verge of loss. Settlement routes are the most unprofitable for the carrier. As Nail Sadreev explained, the income gap is leveled by profitable routes. Only in "MTE-4" at the end of last year debts amounted to more than 25 million rubles.

As noted by the carriers, the wear of the rolling stock can affect unplanned go out from the route, that is, carriers cannot guarantee the existing range of movement of urban passenger transport. Bus operation period of large capacity is 8 years or running a million kilometers. According Aydar Abdulhakov, both figures exceeded in Kazan. "Depreciation of the bus fleet is 45%. We seriously upgraded to the Universiade and FINA. Total we purchased more than 560 new buses. However, another 350 buses of 2006-2008 years need to be replaced, externally they look good, but the internal components and assemblies are worn. The trolleybus park depreciation is 70%, 115 units will soon be replaced. Among trams wear is 60%, 45 units need to be bought"- he said.

To the wear of the rolling stock the problem of personnel is added, 70% of them are from Kazan, and 30% are visitors from neighboring countries. For example, the average salary of the drivers of "MTE-4" is an average of 40 thousand rubles, and the turnover rate is kept at 44%. Carriers explain this with high requirements for drivers today.

However, as noted carriers, the regularity of runs in Kazan is the best in Russia and is 92%, while in Europe the figure is 96%. This is achieved by high costs, and load on drivers decreases.

It should be noted that the existing rates for transportation in public transport is one of the lowest among big cities in Russia in Kazan. So, in Moscow single trip is 50 rubles, and on the tickets - 31 rubles. In St. Petersburg - 30 rubles for land transport, 35 rubles - the subway. Yekaterinburg travel costs 26 rubles, in Samara - 23 rubles, in Krasnoyarsk - 22 rubles, in Vologda - 25 rubles. In Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Izhevsk and Chelyabinsk rate is similar to Kazan. In some cities, such as Ufa, Novosibirsk and Kaliningrad, Saratov fare varies from 17 to 19 rubles. At the same time, in these cities worn buses of small capacity are running and system of compensation for lost revenues is working. In general, as noted by Aidar Abdulhakov, wave of tariff increases in passenger traffic swept through all the cities of the country, and such a situation is a general trend in the economy of enterprises.

Ilsur Metshin noted that the rationale tariff calculation at the federal law is the responsibility of the State Committee on Tariffs of RT, however, this issue concerns all citizens, therefore requires careful consideration. "It is my firm belief that growth of rates should not exceed inflation. We passed a big way - went from "PAZ" and "Gazelle", created a system of accessible public transport. We do not intend to return to this chaos. People accustomed to comfortable buses, trolley buses and trams. Thank you all for the hard work carried out in preparation for the world championships. We were not ashamed of our public transport. Rolling updated in a timely manner. It is understood that all is getting more expensive. Let's work together to find internal resources,"- the Mayor called.

"We must prevent the deterioration of work. Our task is to increase the number of people using urban transport services. You should carefully calculate the fare and to make proposals for approval to Tariff Committee of RT. It is important to be in dialogue with the passengers. Increasing the rate, it is necessary to improve and maintain the culture, continue to update the park. The bar needs to be kept and the raise of the tariff is reasonable, knowing that everything is hard in this difficult time,"- the Mayor said.