Free transportation in trams and trolleybuses was canceled in Zaporizhzhia
photo: CPTmotovey
Starting June 10, Zaporizhzhia's trams and trolleybuses will be free of charge at UAH 10 for a one-time ticket. For certain privileged categories of citizens, travel will continue to be free. This is stated in the relevant decision of the Zaporizhzhia City Council. At the same time, a single fare for all municipal transport will be introduced on June 10: bus fares will be reduced from UAH 12 to UAH 10.
It should be reminded that travel in Zaporizhzhia municipal electric public transport has been free of charge since the beginning of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
Among other things, the explanatory note to the decision states that over the past 2 years, the only income for Zaporizhelektrotrans was partial receipt of funds from the sale of tickets on municipal buses. The rest was compensation from the budget of the Zaporizhzhia city territorial community. In 2024, the financial resources of the budget became more limited and there was an urgent need to restore fares for all types of transport, at least to maintain the current state of affairs.
Volodymyr Sukhachov, Director for Financial and Economic Affairs of Zaporizhhelektrotrans, explained in a commentary to Suspilne Zaporizhzhia TV channel the reasons for the decision to resume paid travel in trams and trolleybuses: "The company lacks working capital to ensure proper technical supervision, to provide services, even to purchase basic spare parts to keep our equipment at the proper level."
photo: CPTmotovey
Over the past six months, the number of trams and trolleybuses on the routes has been decreasing not only due to a lack of funds for repairs, but also due to the age of the rolling stock. Without sufficient resources, they could not be put back into operation quickly. So these problems are interrelated.
Free travel on municipal public transport remains in place in Kharkiv and Kryvyi Rih. It was also introduced in these cities since the beginning of the full-scale war.
The city council has allocated UAH 1.2 billion from the city budget for 2024 to ensure this mode of operation in Kharkiv. And in Kryvyi Rih, they even created a petition to cancel free travel for citizens, arguing that too much money should be allocated to the Defense Forces (over UAH 160 million annually) to ensure this decision. However, this petition did not receive enough signatures.