Activists in Bishkek demanded to stop transfer of 100 trolleybuses to Osh city. They called on residents of the capital to write letters to the Parliament, the City Hall and the Bishkek City Council to preserve this type of public transport.
At the second transport kurultai, participants signed a resolution consisting of four demands:
- To stop the transfer of 100 trolleybuses due to an acute shortage of public transport in the city;
- To stop the liquidation of the trolleybus network;
- To cancel the resolution of the Bishkek City Council dated August 29, 2024 No. 152 «On giving consent to the gratuitous alienation of passenger trolleybuses into the state ownership of the Kyrgyz Republic» due to the lack of written consent of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other violations of the procedures for adopting the document;
- To create and implement plans for the development of public transport in Bishkek, including the renewal of the trolleybus system, the purchase of vehicles, the introduction of special lanes and the reform of the route network and schedules.
Activists note that with the start of the school year, hours-long traffic jams began to form in the capital, buses are overcrowded (as was the case with minibuses before), passengers are forced to let two or three buses pass just to fit in the cabin. September of this year began with systematic being late for work and school, morning stress and bad mood, and this directly affects the ability to work, efficiency in business and, in general, the economic development of the state.
«And in such a situation of acute shortage of public transport, the city administration takes 100 trolleybuses from Bishkek residents along with wires, poles and substations, which means a complete destruction of the most environmentally friendly transport. The trolleybuses are currently being replaced by 50-60 buses that could serve other routes, where residents do not have access to public transport or have to make changing. Electric buses may allow to cover other areas of Bishkek in the future, but transport is needed now. Representatives of the Asian Development Bank, which provides a loan for electric buses, showed documents at a meeting with residents, where only 25 old trolleybuses are subject to replacement, and said that trolleybuses should operate together with electric buses,» the kurultai participants emphasized.
They pointed out that there are currently two lines in Osh that are fully provided with new trolleybuses at the expense of a 2018 loan. In 2022, they took another loan for new trolleybuses. «Even if a new, third, 6.3-kilometer-long line is built, its maintenance will hardly require 180 kilometers of contact network and 100 trolleybuses, which are taken from Bishkek. There are no adequate grounds for the transfer of capital’s property, only losses for the city and damage to health. The construction of new 210-kilometer trolleybus lines will require $111 million, not counting 19 substations and the depots themselves.
Initially, trolleybuses were purchased for $170,000 each. Of these, 50 were bought only seven or eight years ago. They have not even worked half of their service life. Moreover, transporting the transport system to the southern capital will cost additional $400,000,» the activists said. They believe that the transfer of trolleybuses was carried out with violations, since the decision contradicts the law on the loan agreement for the purchase of trolleybuses No. 1191-VI (dated December 21, 2016) and was made without taking into account the position of residents, who spoke out against it during public discussions.
Earlier, Bishkek Mayor Aibek Dzhunushaliev said that trolleybuses would be completely removed from the capital. According to him, electric buses and other public transport are more mobile, and their routes can be changed to solve the problems with traffic jams in the city, but such a solution is impossible with trolleybuses.
The municipality proposed to transfer 100 trolleybuses to Osh, dismantling the contact network began in Bishkek, which caused concern among some city residents. Bishkek City Council deputies approved the transfer of vehicles on August 29.
