Opponents of transport reform seized the administration building in Novokuznetsk

Residents oppose the prohibition of all private carriers and the transfer of service of the city transport system to the St. Petersburg company "Piteravto", which has neither the necessary transport nor drivers who know the city.

After an unsuccessful meeting with the authorities on Tuesday, protesters seized the city administration and stayed there overnight, and also demanded that the mayor be dismissed.

The public transport reform in the city was started on November 18. The authorities decided to completely renew the bus fleet, change the network of city routes, as well as the way of paying for fares. As a result, all these initiatives led to a transport collapse, when residents of the city could not get either to work or to study: the buses that remained in the city ran irregularly and were overcrowded, and the electronic fare payment system did not work, the local newspaper novokuznetsk.su writes.

At about midday on Wednesday, the city's mayor Sergey Kuznetsov came out to the assembled protesters. He said that the transport reform will not be canceled, and the authorities are now working on its establishment. According to him, the mayor is not going to resign, as there are still many problems in the city, in addition to transport, which he intends to solve.

Governor of the region Sergey Tsivilev also supported the transport reform in the city. He stated that some difficulties had indeed arisen with the reform, and no one hides them, but the authorities do not intend to retreat from their plans. “The city administration and personally the head of the city have been working to eliminate them since November 18”, - the governor said. He is quoted by vashgorod.ru. The governor added that the carrier has already admitted its mistakes in organizing transport support. As an apology, residents of the city were offered to travel by public transport for free until the end of November.