Photo: Ana Paunković/FoNetWith the planned abolition of the vehicle monitoring system, all possibilities for control, monitoring and supervision of the operation of buses, trolleybuses and trams will be lost, and the 'genius' solution of the city government is to give every driver a smartphone, warns Nikola Jovanović from the Center for Local Self-Government
The rebalancing of the Business Program of the City Transport Company "Belgrade" foresees the purchase of smart phones for the needs of GSP drivers, in the amount of 50 million dinars, the head of the non-governmental organization Center for Local Self-Government, Nikola Jovanović, announced in writing.
He warns that this procurement was not foreseen in the annual procurement plan, but appears precisely at the moment when the mayor of Belgrade, Alerksandar Šapić, announces the abolition of the existing system for monitoring and charging in public transport vehicles.
"The logical conclusion is that it is a forced ad hoc solution, with which this city government tries to alleviate the chaos that will arise when there is no real-time insight into where a vehicle is located, which creates enormous opportunities for abuse and extracting money for missed departures." , said Jovanović.
He reminded that about 2900 line transport drivers work in GSP, not counting private carriers.
"Since the abolition of the vehicle monitoring system will result in the loss of all possibilities for control, monitoring and supervision of the operation of buses, trolleybuses and trams, the 'genius' solution is to give each driver a smartphone. That would then also mean that someone will have to get a job to develop an application for mobile devices. "This kind of solution for public transport in Belgrade is not serious, nor reliable, and it creates additional costs," Jovanović stressed.
Until now, drivers have had their own personalized official cards and a driver's panel that has the same shape as the validator, and the software itself, which is part of the system, better known as BusPlus, had the developed functions that are necessary for the driver to report the ride in just a few clicks and enter the necessary data.
"So", says Jovanović, "we should give up the equipment we already have, the software we already use and keep buying smart phones and hire another company to create the applications we already use."
MN/FoNet
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
Nenad Stefanović filed a disciplinary complaint against Branko Stamenković, claiming that his public appearances damaged the reputation and trust in the work of the public prosecutor's office. Among the disputed statements is the one that Stamenković gave to the weekly "Vreme", talking about the "para-prosecutor system" in Belgrade.
"I have not terminated the employment contract of any employee," said the principal of the "20. Oktobar" elementary school, Gordana Radojević, in her denial regarding the article about the parents demanding her resignation. He claims that the employees left at their own request or their fixed-term contracts expired.
The mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, was arrested along with two other city officials
The BIA rejected Radar's allegations of personnel changes and documentation, calling them part of a hybrid attack on the security system. The agency points out that by law it does not inform the public about internal personnel decisions.
The findings of the experts represent new evidence in the proceedings regarding the physical confrontation between Šapić and Mićić, which took place on September 28 at the Bežanijska Kosa.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
From bad explanations to even worse justifications, the road is short, and it would have to lead directly to prison. In the flood of nonsense to which the public has been exposed for the past few days on the topic of the new "NN" system vs the old "Kentkart", the immediate resignation of the mayor of Belgrade, the determination of legal responsibility and the implementation of appropriate sanctions against all responsible actors of the "Kentkart" affair would be the only thing that makes sense.
BIRN obtained audio recordings in which it is heard that the head of the cabinet of the mayor of Belgrade, Nenad Milanović, at two meetings held in the building of the City of Belgrade Assembly, offered to the representatives of the Turkish company Kentkart that he would set up a tender for them for a new job - maintenance and improvement of the ticket collection system and management of vehicles in public city transport - if they agree to the mutual termination of the existing contract from 2021
For more than 10 years, GSP and public transport in general have put an enormous burden on the city budget, GSP is a multimillion-dollar loser every year (in euros), ticket collection in Belgrade is extremely weak, GSP has 15-20 percent of redundant employees and thus the problem persists, and none of the city's the government has been failing to solve it for decades
The mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, said that he does not know whether the footage published by BIRN is authentic, cut or edited, but that "it will not stop him from destroying this thieving system of ticket collection in city transport."
