The catastrophic state of city transport in Skopje will not change soon, because even the six new buses that are to be brought to the city cannot help, nor will the improvement of transport be affected by the possible fulfillment of the request of the private companies. carriers for increasing the price for transportation of the past kilometer.

Transportation needs serious changes, because nothing has been done in that direction for years, and the promises that the current mayor Danela Arsovska made during the pre-election campaign have not been fulfilled so far. There are no 250 new eco-friendly buses, no free transportation, nor will there be until the end of her term. And it is not only the councilors who are to blame for not voting for the purchase of new buses, because according to the "For a modern Skopje" program, they should have been provided with the help of the central government and international partners, and not from the city budget or credit indebtedness of the City. Councilors from VMRO-DPMNE and their coalition do not even vote for the introduction of BRT.

So, public city transport, which has been left to fail for years, and there is no other alternative in Skopje, is now terrible. Old vehicles, which often break down while driving, a small number of buses, non-compliance with the timetable, everyday worries of the citizens. No one can get to work or school on time anymore, and at the same time they have to be prepared that in the unimaginable morning crowds in the vehicles, when the doors barely close and the buses don't stop at stations due to overcrowding, if they manage to get in they will have to stand at one leg and not breathing.

But at the moment, such buses of JSP "Skopje" are the only thing offered to the people of Skopje. For almost six months, private drivers have been driving whenever they want, in the morning, at noon, and they neither respect the timetable nor the obligations agreed with the City of Skopje. Yesterday they announced again that they will drive only in the afternoon after 17 pm until the City Council of Skopje agrees to increase the price for the last kilometer of transportation. Then, they promise that they will not only drive regularly, but also replace their old non-environmental buses, which are below all public transport standards, with environmentally-friendly air-conditioned buses.

There is no transportation at the old price per kilometer, private carriers will continue to drive only in the afternoon

After yesterday's press conference of the private carriers, the City of Skopje announced today and again shifted the blame to the advisors of VMRO-DPMNE.

The private carriers are running reduced traffic due to a revolt for not considering their initiative, which can only be debated and decided upon by the Council of the City of Skopje. They submitted a request to the President of the Skopje City Council, Trajko Slavevski, a few months ago, which, according to the Rules of Procedure of the Skopje City Council, should have been considered by the councilors in the Council immediately without delay. Unfortunately, the tactics of the majority in the Council to create discontent and cause chaos for the citizens of the city of Skopje, by preventing the purchase of new ecological buses and the attempt to devastate public transport by not paying the debt to the JSP of 8 million euros that the Government has for transportation of students and the student standard - the City announced and urged Slaveski to immediately put the initiative on the agenda of the session.

But from there they do not explain who will pay the debt to the private carriers. The State Audit Office, during the audit it did in JSP, concluded that the company cannot provide quality transportation for citizens, but it also determined large debts to the carriers, that is, at the end of 2023, JSP owed them as much as 1,5 million euros. If JSP has failed to pay even 69 denars for a kilometer traveled, how can it be expected that it would pay a higher amount to private individuals.

The auditors found several irregularities: Despite subsidies of over 10 million euros, JSP cannot provide quality transportation

As a reminder, the contract with the three groups of private carriers was concluded in May of last year, after the protest of the carriers from "Sloboden vravoz" and "Makexpress", Arsovska terminated their contracts and left the citizens without private buses for six months. After several published public announcements, she finally agreed with private individuals and concluded new contracts. Specifically, the contract was concluded between JSP and the carriers, with which 105 of their buses were included in the transportation, especially on the lines that only they serve - 23, 45, 61, 63, 73, 9, 11, 11A, 12, 47A, 55, 19, 20, 22, 52 and 54. They also boasted that modern ecological buses would run on these lines, which did not happen.

With the new way of working and the standardization in public transport, citizens will receive quality and timely service, and the budgets of the City of Skopje and JSP Skopje will be protected from the abuses and arbitrariness that was the practice in the past - the JSP announced at the time.

Then, due to the poor financial situation in which JSP continues to find itself, the transporters were not paid on time for the service they provide to the citizens, so the citizens of Skopje were once again left without transport when they needed it, and they only got it in the afternoon, when the buses are not so busy. necessary.

Why Arsovska does not terminate the contracts with the private carriers even though they do not fulfill the agreed obligation is not known, because the City of Skopje probably thinks that this is one of the questions that do not deserve an answer.

And while the work, to the detriment of the citizens, turns in a "circle" from which there is no exit for now, the time will soon come when the City will once again award hundreds of millions of denars in subsidies to the public transport company, which JSP will spend on salaries.

And the people of Skopje will continue to look forward to better times when they will be able to ride a bus with dignity, which will not creak, stink and fail, and when they will be able to trust the timetable, instead of waiting for an hour for a bus. As things stand, they will wait until then.