Drivers of minibuses addressed the city authorities and residents of Bishkek.
According to them, the main problem, the claim is the fare.
«The fares have not been increased for 12 years, they remain the same. Nevertheless, gasoline is getting more expensive, we need to buy spare parts. 80 percent of drivers have loans that they took to buy spare parts for vehicles. Our good deeds don’t reach people. We pay taxes. The townspeople demand buses. We do not mind, but they are useless, because the city treasury will lose our taxes. We do everything ourselves, we did not take a single som from the City Hall. We are ready to continue transporting pensioners for five soms. But the City Hall doesn’t help to buy spare parts. Can you imagine how much diesel we fill in every day? We work at night. The people must understand us. Officials are aware of everything, but nothing is moving forward. We have been waiting for six months, everything has risen in price again. What cost 500 soms (spare part) costs 2,000 now. There are those who live in rented apartments with their families. Let the current deputies of the Bishkek City Hall decide the issue of tariffs for travel,» the drivers of minibuses said.
They also demand to increase the fare by 1 som annually.
About 70 percent of drivers of minibuses did not show up for work on June 2. The drivers demand to increase the fare.
The City Hall offered three options for increasing fares, but it considers setting the cost of travel in municipal public transport at 11 soms, in buses of all classes of private transport companies (minibuses) — at 15 soms as the most acceptable. The day before, the Ministry of Economy received a positive response to the analysis of the regulatory impact of the project. The City Hall has submitted a draft resolution to the Bishkek City Council. Acting Mayor of Bishkek Baktybek Kudaibergenov met with the heads of associations and companies-carriers and said that the issue of tariffs for travel in minibuses in Bishkek will be resolved in September.
The minibus drivers have already staged a strike in January. Then they demanded to increase the fare first to 15 soms, and then — to 19-20 soms. They proposed to increase the municipal buses and trolleybuses fare to 10 soms.
