The law-in-draft on the introduction of an automated fare collection system in transport was adopted in the first reading

The Government has submitted to the Supreme Council a package of legislative initiatives that introduce an automated fare collection system on public transport in Pridnestrovie. The legislations on amendments and additions to the existing laws “On Transport”, “On Road Safety”, the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Civil Code of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic were presented to parliamentarians for consideration in the first reading by the Minister of Economic Development Sergey Obolonik. According to him, Automated fare collection system is planned to be implemented in two stages. First, stationary validators (this is a device for displaying and / or checking documents) will be installed in public transport. Public transport that serves suburban and intercity routes as well as trolley bus conductors will be provided with portable validators. Non-cash and cash fares will operate in the cities in the first two months. Only cashless payments are supposed to be made - by rechargeable cards, bank cards or mobile devices after two months, Sergei Obolonik noted.

Deputy Chairman of the Government of the PMR emphasized that the main goal of the law-in-draft is accounting for revenue in the field of entrepreneurial activity, online monitoring of public transport, improving the quality of passenger service in terms of ease of paying for travel, monitoring passenger traffic, increasing the share of non-cash payments, effective control and accounting of passenger transportation eligible for benefits, objective regulation of tariffs. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations are proposed to fine illegal carriers of passengers and baggage.

The Committee on Agro-Industrial Complex and Transport, which prepared draft laws for consideration, noted in the report a large number of conceptual comments that were not answered in the legislations. It is possible in particular to leave cash payments for six months to a year, and not 2 months as defined by the bill; road maps for cashless payments will be issued free of charge or people need to buy them; how will accounting for a preferential trip be carried out, as well as accounting for different fares for passengers of different social and age groups: pensioners, schoolchildren, disabled people; what to do as a driver if the validator stopped working during the trip, and there is no possibility to pay in cash, and many other nuances. The issue of increasing penalties in the field of passenger and baggage transportation requires additional discussion in the opinion of the Department of the relevant Committee.

Parliamentarians asked clarifying questions, some deputies spoke out against the adoption of this package of legislations.

Deputy from the constituency of Kamenka Valery Babchinetsky proposed extending the project only for the cities of Tiraspol and Bendery for 1-2 years in order to see how the system works.

The deputy from the city of Rybnitsa Vadim Kravchuk specified how automated payment system would work for cities where there are no trolleybuses, and how beneficiaries would be taken into account. The parliamentarians were interested in how people who get into a suburban or intercity minibus or bus near their village on the highway, without a card, will be able to pay for the trip. Or, for example, how to track whether a beneficiary uses his card at a discount, and whether there will also be a limit on travel by public transport for privileged categories of citizens, because all benefits to transport companies are compensated by the state from the budget.

Deputy Grigory Dyachenko urged parliamentarians to be consistent in their decisions. The Supreme Council voted for changes to the republican budget in April, one of the articles of which allocated about 6 million rubles for the purchase of validators, software for an automated payment system and road cards. The start of the project is scheduled for the 1st of November.

There are many questions left, the deputies by a majority of votes adopted three legislations in the first reading in order to resolve the controversial issues by the second reading. The law-in-draft "On Road Safety" during the plenary session was withdrawn from consideration. The profile committee will continue to work on the legislations for the second reading.