The mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, said that by the end of this year, there will be a total of 750 new buses on the streets, since the moment he became mayor. Most of the bus lines are slowly going into the hands of private companies, while the mayor "can no longer listen" to working conditions in public transport.
The mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, said that by the end of this year, there will be a total of 750 new buses on the streets, since the moment he became mayor.
Today, Šapić presented new buses at the GSP Belgrade facility, but not from the city carrier, but from the private company "Strela". it says N1.
The mayor stated that 80 new buses were put into traffic in July, which means that in two or three months the city of Belgrade received 160 new buses.
"A year ago, we bought 100 vehicles, we also released them. We will all be here together in October when we will show 350 vehicles, which will also become an integral part of Belgrade's public transport. By the end of the year, we expect 400, that's this new contract," Šapić explained.
Euros, not Galapagos mongooses
Šapić specified that a solo bus costs 370.000, and an articulated bus costs 470.000. When asked if those prices are in euros, Šapić said: "Well, it's definitely not Galapagos mongooses!" Dinars are not, like 470.000 dinars for a bus. Please don't. 470.000 euros and 370.000 euros."
But his ambitious plan does not stop after 750 new vehicles, he reports N1.
"By the end of 2026, that number will increase by another 500 and reach 1.300." In the meantime, we are already preparing the finances to go into the purchase of 80 new trams and 80 new trolleybuses, and 25 new trams are already arriving because that contract has been signed and we have already begun to pay for it," emphasized Šapić.
He announced that the city will order another 250 new gas buses for the Gad Transport Company (GSP) and that this means that within a year and a half there will not be a single vehicle in the center of Belgrade that is not powered by ecological gas.
"I can't listen to any more lies"
Speaking about the position of GSP employees, he said that he could no longer listen to lies and that the average driver's salary in August was 116.000 dinars, and the maintenance salary was 93.000 dinars.
Apić said that as of September 1, the employees received a new salary increase of 10 percent.
According to the contract, GSP workers have a minimum of 33 days of rest, while the legal minimum is 20, night work is increased by 50 percent even though the legal minimum is 26 percent, said Šapić and added that work on holidays is paid at 125 percent, while the legal minimum is 110 percent. .
Šapić explained that the safety of drivers and citizens is in the first place and that therefore the speed will be limited to 55 kilometers per hour in all city transport vehicles.
Trade unions condemned the privatization
The four trade unions of the Belgrade City Transport Company (GSP) announced today that they were surprised by the announcement of the mayor, Aleksandar Šapić, that they will introduce "competing" buses in the GSP operation, which were bought by the private transporter "Strela", which, according to their assessment, was the first time in 27 years that "some mayor promotes the purchase of private company vehicles".
The trade unions assessed that this is another indicator "that only GSP Belgrade has the necessary infrastructure, which the City built in previous decades with the funds of the people of Belgrade, and this implies that the depots are fully equipped for carrying out transport activities".
"In addition to new vehicles, it is necessary to have infrastructure for maintenance, such as halls for daily care and servicing of vehicles, canals for repairs, asphalted parking areas, car washes and other supporting facilities," the announcement states.
The trade unions state that the listed private carrier Strela has nothing, so this is the reason why the mayor did not choose their garages as a suitable place to address the public, but the GSP plant, it is written in the joint statement of the GSP unions "Centar", "Pravda" , "Sloga" and the Trade Union of Public Transport Employees in Belgrade.
As they stated, additional concern of the employees was caused by the doubt as to whether some of the GSP facilities will be handed over to a private carrier for their buses, which, as they assessed, would be another step towards the complete privatization of public transport in Belgrade.
Another 84 lines go into private ownership
"Vreme" previously wrote that Belgrade plans to entrust 84 lines of public city passenger transport to a private company. Most of the lines were previously maintained by private individuals, while 33 lines are currently operated by the Belgrade City Transport Company (GSP). After these lines are handed over to the private sector, GSP will have only about 30 bus lines left in the entire city, that is, one quarter of the existing routes.
The city of Belgrade recently conducted a procedure in which it entrusted 34 city transport lines in Belgrade to a private company - 27 of which were GSP lines.
The project includes, among other things, lines on the territory of the municipalities of Grocka and Zvezdara, section 300, Voždovac, section 400 and Čukarica and Rakovica, section 500 and part of the lines with the majority of the route in those municipalities, including the city municipality of Savski venac.
According to the new project, which was approved by the Provisional Authority on June 20, the contract between the City and the future private partner would be concluded for ten years, while the projected value of the project was about 146,4 billion dinars without VAT, i.e. 1,25 billion euros .
Source: N1
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