The construction of the toll system is scheduled and ready to be released on August 16, announced Regional Minister Petya Avramova last week. From May 15th, testing of the toll system begins in the "taxi" section based on distance traveled, she said.
 
The topic of this system for nearly a year has sparked controversy and reactions from carriers, business, employers, and society in general. The carriers first reacted. Bus carriers expect growth in the gray sector.

"Understanding that the revenues from vignettes and tolls are the only way to influence the infrastructure, we are sending a sharp remark about the realization of this idea," Ivailo Konstantinov, a member of the Management Board of the Confederation of Bus Carriers, told BTA. The reason is that a distinction should be made between public passenger transport providing a social service and a service-only carriage.
 
In the first case, carriers serve 12 eligible groups of citizens and are not assisted in any way by the state, except for transport in the municipal transport spheres. This, plus the gray sector, has shrunk the branch by 2/3 for the past 10 years, Konstantinov said.

"The situation is such that any extra cost leads to new bankruptcies." It is worth recalling that, in recent years, quite similar costs have been incurred: for additional equipment with safety belts, video recorders, insurance premiums and minimum wage, respectively insurance. In addition to the absolute impossibility of adjusting the bid price due to the fact that it is fixed for the entire contract period under the PPA, the additional cost of this fee will certainly lead to new and the deprivation of transport services to many more municipalities, "said Ivailo Konstantinov.

 
And the figures show that for E6 an annual vignette costs 800 leva. With the new toll system, a small-haul carrier will pay annually 5000 leva. And those whose buses run long distances - much more. The cost is over six times. In the case of transport at a contract price - it is tolerable, because there is agreement of all parties to the contract itself (type of occasional transport).

Expectations are that such an appreciation will lead to the growth of the gray sector, the opinion of the Confederation of Bus Carriers expressed by Ivaylo Konstantinov.

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