State and local governments are hoping trains, trolleys, trams and buses will move the nation closer to financial stability. In an effort to reduce costly subsidies, transportation officials have implemented sharp fares increases this month on intercity rail travel and on the capital's transport tickets.
Prices for railway trips nationwide rose more than 20 percent earlier this month, and inner-city transportation fares in Ukraine's capital are doubling March 19.
Price hikes are expected to have a slight effect on the hryvna, analysts say.
Prices on railway tickets jumped 22 percent March 11, according to Natalia Myakenka, spokeswoman for Transportation Ministry. She said the government has also canceled special discount tickets for minors, although 37 types of other discount fares remain.
Ukrzaliznytsya, a state-run company in charge of railway transportation, serviced some 7.5 million people last year, which led to company losses reaching Hr 1.5 billion, Myakenka said.
Meanwhile in Kyiv, the city spent Hr 100 million subsidizing public transportation last year, said Vasyl Yastrubynsky, head of the city's price policy department.
In the capital, public transport fares will jump from the current 30 kopeks per ride to 50 kopeks, Kyiv city administration officials said. Those passengers buying tickets on buses, trams and trolleys – not in the ticket booths beforehand – will pay 60 kopeks per trip. Part of the proceeds will pay the wages of the city's conductors.
Yastrubynsky said Kyivans shouldn't bother stocking up on metro tokens since new tokens will be introduced and the machines will be reset the night of March 19.
Regular metro riders would be wise to buy long-term passes to save money, Yastrubynsky said. For instance, buying a one-month pass at a cost of Hr 25, would mean a passenger who rides the train an average of twice a day would pay about 42 kopeks a trip. Further savings would come from new three-month passes that will soon be introduced.
The city is also implementing a holiday tariff as of July 1, he said. On weekends and holidays, rides on a bus, tram or trolley will cost 75 kopeks, he said.
Fare increases will also affect private mini-bus services, known as marshrutky. Fares in marshrutky will range from 60 kopeks to Hr 1, depending on the length of the route, up from the 50 kopek fare, Yastrubynsky said.
The mini-bus fare increases are welcome relief to the owner companies that have long seen their fares unchanged due to tough price regulations, despite rapid inflation, Yastrubynsky said. Companies offering similar services in Ukraine's other cities have long charged a set Hr 1 fee.
Analysts said fare hikes for the national railway and Kyiv city public transportation system will create slight pressure on the hryvna. But Valery Antonov, an expert with Alfa Capital brokerage house, said the price increases would add no more than 3 percent to the overall inflation figure forecast by the government for 2000.
