Even before the war, the problems of urban and regional passenger transportation were quite complex. Many experts are convinced that they can be of high quality only if the carriers are owned by the municipal authorities, as is the case with electric transport today. However, in Ukrainian cities before the war, only Kyiv could afford such an expensive scheme, in other cities, carriers are private enterprises that try to make a profit in this area of business. However, at the current prices for transportation, which are set by the city government, this is a rather difficult problem. According to the carriers, the current prices only make it possible to make ends meet. And before the war, there were also very big problems with drivers – there were always few of them, and with repairmen, and with buses (which, according to the law, are called route taxis). Pride is one of the main signs of Ukrainian business. However, the problems of peacetime in the conditions of war became extremely acute.
“FAKT” IA talked about the problems of passenger transportation with the director of the private enterprise ATP Kinostudio Vakalyuk Vitaly Mykytovych.
Mr. Vitaly, what has changed since the beginning of the war?
Our enterprise is engaged in passenger transportation in Odesa and Odesa region and is responsible for four routes in Odesa and six routes in Odesa region. It is obvious to everyone that since the beginning of the war, there has been significantly less traffic on the streets. Many of our drivers are fighting – conscripted into the Armed Forces, many of them are on the front lines: there are wounded, thank God there are no casualties yet.
What, in your opinion, is the specificity of wartime for passenger transportation?
In addition to the fact that there are fewer and fewer drivers due to the reasons for their mobilization, another problem for transport is the stops arranged by the TCC together with the police. On the one hand, the entire transportation schedule flies to hell, on the other hand, people simply do not dare to ride minibuses. Of course, this applies to both trams and trolleybuses, but what’s the point: they are subsidized – they will simply write off these losses. And for us this is a serious problem. No one will compensate us for these losses.
And before the war, there was not enough drivers. I remember that carriers complained that drivers were lured to Belarus. And how now?
Of course, there is a catastrophic shortage of drivers. Because of the war, they were not enough before, and now with the adoption of the new law on mobilization, the picture is generally extremely sad. The percentage of the lack of drivers is 50 to 50. According to the current legislation and license agreements for the route, we must have two drivers per bus for it to work normally. Today, there are not enough drivers for the one-driver bus option.
The heads of the motor transport companies jointly appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers to decide what to do: because even if we are given armor, it applies to 50 percent of the personnel. We asked that we be left with at least one driver, but so far – silence. It should be borne in mind that the transportation of passengers is not included in the list of critical enterprises, therefore drivers are not booked. There are elderly people, disabled people – those who are not subject to mobilization, but it is very difficult for them to close this problem.
As you know, women became bus drivers in Great Britain during the Second World War, although no one could have imagined such a thing before. Do you attract women too?
I know what someone says about the need to look for women drivers, like in trolleybuses. Pivnichtrans, the largest motor transport company in the region, has been trying to train women drivers in its courses for several years. However, the problem is: according to the current rules, the right to drive a bus (passenger transport) – class D, can only be obtained by those drivers who have worked as truck drivers for at least two years – class C. Just like that, take women and put them behind the wheel of a bus a shuttle taxi is not possible. I’m not talking about the completely ill-conceived knowledge test system for issuing class D certificates, we insisted on this even before the war. But now all these problems have coincided and how to solve them is completely unclear. As far as I know, the Pivnichtrans initiative to train female bus drivers has actually failed.
Probably, the situation is not better with repairmen?
Yes, one of the main problems today is technical personnel. We currently have the most acute shortage of locksmiths, without whom it is impossible to prepare the bus to go on the route. We are trying to somehow solve this problem, but they are growing like a tsunami.
Did you try to explain it to the mobilization authorities?
Here, everything is not quite as it is officially said. It must be said that in practice we faced a not very reasonable situation, to put it mildly. Officially, we are told that drivers and locksmiths just have to check their details in the register for mobilization. However, in practice, those who clarified these data no longer return to us.
As a result, active drivers also sometimes refuse to go on the route. They are afraid that they will also be taken away from the bus during another check by the TCC. I have to persuade them personally, but what guarantees can I give them? And what to do in this situation is completely unclear.
And what is happening with regional transportation?
Currently, we have six intra-regional routes. It should be noted that if in Odesa we somehow maintain a certain level of transportation, then in the region the picture is even worse. First of all, they now strictly require permits in every border zone, and this is almost the entire Odesa region. And, of course, today the problem of underground competition from private drivers is even more acute – they drive up to bus stops and pick up our passengers – they don’t pay taxes and can afford to “beat the price”. As a result, bus transportation in the region generally lost at least some profitability, there is a solid loss.
In addition to the problem of the most acute shortage of personnel, what else hinders transporters during the war?
Another serious problem is the issue of logistics. The buses we drive are formally produced in Ukraine, they are “Bohdan” and “Etalon”. However, in reality, in Ukraine they are only assembled from imported components. Apart from the body, which is of very low quality, all the stuffing of the buses is imported, and for a long time before the war it all worked fine – we had no problems with components. But today all logistics are disrupted. The fact is that our logistics is built on carriers that delivered all these goods in containers to Ukraine with large machines. Today, after the new law on mobilization, carriers stop somewhere in the region of Romania, and do not go to Ukraine. As a result, logistics chains fall apart. My fear is that this will inevitably lead to a shortage of fuel, and the price of it will go up a lot. Especially since the government plans to increase excise taxes on it. The price for fuel will be such that no amount of transportation will pay for it.
But the logistics of international road transport concerns all spheres of our life. How to deal with it?
Yes, it should be understood that all imports are delivered to Ukraine by carriers, and if they stop traveling, our country may be left without goods and a certain part of products.
Traditionally, carriers have complained that they are prevented from buying subsidized imported buses. What has changed in this matter during the war years?
None of the problems that faced the industry before the war due to bureaucratic obstacles were ever resolved. For automotive companies, these are, first of all, the buses themselves. The price of the “Bohdan” bus, which is assembled in Ukraine, has recently increased even more. It is now worth $80,000. More than three times more than at the beginning of their release. This is a completely unaffordable price considering the fact that the bank will not give us a loan as an almost unprofitable enterprise. I can buy a very good used bus in perfect condition in the West for 8-10 thousand euros. But even under Poroshenko, who owns the “Bohdaniv” assembly plants, such a duty on the import of buses into Ukraine was established that it was raised from 8,000 euros to 25,000 euros. And although he has been out of power for a long time, no one has canceled such a duty.
Suppose your words will be heard in the corridors of power. What would you like to say to her?
If the authorities believe that passenger transportation is not necessary, then let them say so directly. Because we are told that transportation must be preserved, but how to do it is completely unclear.
