Smolny decided that St. Petersburg residents will no longer need night routes
The authorities of St. Petersburg dismissed the citizens who work at night. Having infringed on their interests, officials apparently forgot that these people also pay taxes.
There are no night routes for St. Petersburg residents. The authorities considered that it was not profitable to leave them, as follows from the response to an appeal from the deputy chairman of the city Transport Committee, Renat Yagudin.
The official emphasized that budget money goes primarily to organizing social and work trips.
“Ensuring the operation of night buses was carried out by reducing the rolling stock on other regular routes, thereby significantly worsening transport services for the population on weekends. Due to the drop in passenger traffic on these routes, the revenue received from the number of passengers transported does not cover transportation costs,” Yagudin noted.
He complained about “limited budget funding” and admitted that St. Petersburg residents will not be able to use night routes in 2022.
The stinginess of officials will cost St. Petersburg residents who work at night dearly. But they pay taxes, just like “daytime” citizens.
It will also be hard for the long-awaited tourists whom Smolny so diligently “lured” to the city. They, along with residents of the Northern capital, will be forced to spend money on taxis.
Interestingly, until 2021 there will be night buses drove passengers, while the metro is not operating, on surface routes along the main metro lines. This scheme suited the residents quite well, but officials decided to ruin everything.
This is not the only problem that guests and residents of St. Petersburg faced after the start of ill-conceived transport reform. Having reduced the number of routes, the authorities of St. Petersburg did not replace them with new ones everywhere. It has become more difficult for citizens to move around the Northern capital, especially for residents of remote areas.
Let us remind you that social ground transport in St. Petersburg accounts for up to 40% of the total volume of passenger traffic, more than half of which is allocated to buses. At the same time, the share of commercial routes of ground transport reaches 10-15% of the total volume of traffic.
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