There is no question that public transport should not be paid for. But everything that accompanies the introduction of the new system points to the incompetence and even the arrogance of city leaders, and even one dinar is too much to give for that.
For the time being, the praise of the mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, that the residents of the capital and all those who come to it every day for work, rushed to use the new city transport charging system was absent. At least until Tuesday, when this text is being written, there is still no official information on how many tickets were bought in the first or the first days using the new payment system, that is, via SMS messages. According to the estimation method of those of us who use public transport every day, that number seems to be small. And those who did, it will be that they did it more out of curiosity to see how and if everything works there at all.
New, lower city transport prices have been in effect for a week in Belgrade. It would be commendable at a time of inflation and general price increases. However, everything that preceded it, as well as how it all started, could lead us to the fact that those lower prices cost us dearly, because, as they say, the devil hides in the details.
UNANNOUNCED OVERTURE
He hinted that something will happen soon with regard to public transport, the weekend before Šapić presented the already announced new public transport system and the new price list to the public on May 16. Validators that read BusPlus cards started disappearing from the vehicles of the "Belgrade" City Transport.
The company "Kentkart", which has been collecting tickets since 2011 and with which the City of Belgrade terminated its contract in April, announced that this was done without their knowledge and without any announcement, although the contract's cancellation period lasts until May 28.
In addition to all that, the validators stayed in the vehicles of private carriers, so the citizens of Belgrade came to the absurd situation that they should pay the ticket in the vehicles of private carriers, but not in those that are part of the vehicle fleet of the city company owned by the City of Belgrade. By the way, there has been an integrated tariff system since 2004, so the same tickets are valid for GSP and private individuals.
It was learned from the mayor at the media conference in the Old Palace that the city is now divided into two and not four zones, it was learned that a time ticket in one zone of 90 minutes costs 50 dinars, 120 per day, 800 per week, and 2200 per month.
However, experience has shown us that when it comes to the prices of city transport with the mayor, we should be careful. In April, when he announced the new prices to us, Šapić canceled and returned the time ticket within less than 24 hours, announced higher and lower prices, only for us to hear that they were all working versions. The working versions are now valid.
As Šapić himself has repeatedly said that the new ticket prices in public city transport are not economic, that is, they cannot be profitable, and that the goal of this move is to "restore the trust of citizens", the question is how long it will take to restore that trust , and how will we know when and if it has been returned? And what after that? And will we pay for that trust with new, higher prices?
IMITATION OF VUCIC
However, even at the aforementioned conference, it was not possible to find out exactly how much a time, daily, weekly or monthly ticket costs. For now, tickets can be purchased by sending SMS messages, paper ones only at a small number of points of sale. According to the information on the website of the public utility company "Transportation Charges", which is now doing what the company "Kentkart" used to do, those places are located at ten addresses, they say there will be more, it's just the beginning. There will also be an application.
Since citizens are more or less condemned to buy tickets via mobile phone by sending an SMS message to the number 9011, when asked to explain whether and how much commission is paid to mobile operators, Šapić, in the already familiar style of his party leader and president, asked for help and clarification from his colleagues at the press conference. "What are you talking about, excuse me, how much percentage goes to the operators based on the price - 5 or 2,5 percent? Please? Five percent goes to the operators, which means 50 dinars goes to the City plus 5 percent to the operators, that's how much - 50 and two and a half dinars will cost a ticket of 50 dinars", said the Belgrade mayor.
It will turn out that what he said is not true either, because when the ticket is bought via SMS, it does not cost 52,5 dinars, but a few dinars more. Depending on your operator (with some it also depends on the package, so they don't charge for that service), the commission for buying one ticket ranges from 3,48 to 4,9 dinars. And that, fortunately for passengers, regardless of whether it is a timed, daily, weekly or monthly ticket and its price.
If Šapić's calculations were applied, for example, a weekly ticket purchased by sending an SMS message would cost 820 dinars instead of 800, and a monthly ticket would cost 2255 instead of 2200 dinars.
In addition to all that, in the message that you receive as a confirmation that you bought the ticket, the total price is nowhere stated, instead it says "at a price of 50 dinars + the basic price of the message". Not even on the official price list on the website of the already mentioned PUC "Charge for transportation services" is there any information that the ticket price is increased by the commission of the mobile operator, nor how much that commission is, which is not only not in accordance with the law, but is also disrespectful citizens of Belgrade.
The City awarded the company "Comtrade" the job of provider for ticket collection in city transport. The entire deal is worth around 1,85 million euros. Previously, the PUC "Transport Service Charges" suspended the public procurement of new equipment and software for urban transport, and the reason given was that during the implementation of the public procurement, "we learned that there are better solutions for more efficient monitoring and accounting in public transport".
The question is why it was decided that this burden of paying the commission should be on the citizens.
photo: marko dragoslavićCITY TRANSPORT IN BELGRADE: Chaos in announcement and implementation
HOLES IN THE SYSTEM
It was only on the first day of operation of the new way of paying tickets in public transport that people began to find loopholes in the system on social networks. The paper ticket's 90-minute validity starts from the moment of purchase, not from the moment of entering the vehicle, as it was until now, and when you look at how public transport works, every minute is precious. One of the questions that have been asked is what to do if your battery dies while you are in transport. But there was also advice to save your phone under the name 9011 (the number through which tickets are purchased) and to send yourself a text message confirming the purchase of the ticket, and so you can basically avoid paying.
To the fact that the system can be cheated, the mayor replies that every ticket can be checked, that is, that the "Whites", communal policemen who assume the role of controller, will be able to send a control message to each device, if they suspect, and check the unique number of the ticket. "We can check every ticket, whether an authentic ticket has arrived on the machine. If they try to defraud, then they are no longer committing a misdemeanor, but a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison. So if someone wants to take a risk for 50 dinars, let him go", warned Šapić.
I DON'T GIVE UP THE PHONE
However, what is far more concerning, and which shows a lot about this city government, is the claim that someone can search your phone. When asked whether the "Whites" have the legal right to ask to see the message, the portal "Blica" from the City received the answer: "Yes, they have the legal right. They are official persons and can ask to see the phone. Whoever says he paid for the ticket via SMS will have to show his phone screen." It would also be good to hear from the city leaders on the basis of which law any official is given the authority to ask citizens to inspect the contents of their phones.
However, it won't be like that. Former Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Šabić, tells "Vreme" that the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia is quite clear. "The Constitution of Serbia, Article 41, guarantees the inviolability of the confidentiality of letters and other means of communication, and this guarantee fully applies to complete telephone communication, including the content of SMS messages. Deviations from the guarantee of inviolability are allowed by the Constitution only under the condition that they are necessary for conducting criminal proceedings or protecting the security of the Republic of Serbia, and then only on the basis of a court decision," says Šabić.
According to him, in such situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that is, the BIA, inspects the content of the communication. "In any other situation, insight into the content of the communication is allowed only with the consent of the owner of the phone. The new ticket collection system is apparently based on the assumption that citizens will agree to give members of the communal police an insight into the SMS messages they send or receive in the function of paying for city transport. But, although for the majority of cases this assumption of citizens' consent is logical, if only because of the small number of people who do not accept it or, for example, do not have mobile phones, there must also be an alternative method of payment. In any case, regardless of the consequences related to possible non-payment of the ticket, under any circumstances it would be illegal and inadmissible for members of the municipal police to inspect the content of citizens' telephone communications without the consent of the phone owner", explains Šabić.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, the saying goes. If there are good intentions in everything that is currently being done with public transportation in Belgrade, then those intentions are well seasoned with incompetence and arrogance. The citizens have not been informed of the exact prices, nor can someone be given the authority to swindle citizens over the phone just like that. There is no question of whether those who use public transport should also pay for it. Of course it should. But here it seems that citizens should pay for someone's incompetence and arrogance. And even one dinar is a lot for that.
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