On April 30, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a decision that allows the use of buses, trams and trolleybuses, given to Ukraine as humanitarian aid, for public transport needs. Previously, such a vehicle was idle at the depot, because its operation for this purpose was prohibited. About this informs Deputy Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine – Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba.
“On April 30, the Council supported an extremely important decision – draft law No. 12177-1, which allows the official use of public transport received in the form of humanitarian aid.” Kuleba noted, adding that 278 people’s deputies voted for him.
He cited statistics: during the two years of the full-scale war, almost 90 communities received more than 800 buses, dozens of trams and trolleybuses — more than a thousand units of transport in total.
“Often, this is the only opportunity to establish a connection between villages, restore a school route or take people to the hospital. But all this time there was a barrier: there was no legal possibility to use this vehicle for transportation. And today we removed this barrier.” – emphasized the government official.
People’s Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko explainedthat now only non-profit organizations can receive humanitarian aid. Instead, all city utility carriers legally have a profit-making status, which hindered the use of the provided transport.
“Because of this, even the transport given by foreign partners as aid cannot go on the routes — and literally rusts in the depot. I can say about Odessa, where dozens of buses stand on the site, because legally they cannot be used.”, – stated the deputy.
Adoption of the law, according to parliamentarians, actually unblocks the use of humanitarian transport for passenger transportation.
