Minsk ticket collectors fined stowaways for 35 millions in January

As ERB has found out, the best ticket collects are in Vitsebsk. Only 21 people were fined there in January. The number is 18 times bigger in Navapolatsk – 394 stowaways.
The director of the transport control complex of “Vіtsebskablautatrans” Andrei Ravutski says that the benefits cancellation has not influenced the number of stowaways in buses. It has probably decreased.

Andrei Ravutskі: "Fewer people were fined in Navapolatsk in December in comparison with November. I do not know how to draw a parallel between the number of stowaways and the benefits cancellation. Those who were stowaways before the cancellation will remain stowaways after it”.

During the talk with Andrei Ravutski it turned out that Vitsebsk ticket collectors were the most loyal: they fined only 21 people in January:

Andrei Ravutskі: “21 stowaways were fined in Vitsebsk in January. At the same time, 394 people were fined in Navapolatsk where there are no conductors”.

However, the profit made on stowaways reached 35 million in Minsk! According to the head of the economic department of “Misnktrans” Hanna Mihailouskaya, about 160 stowaways are caught every day.

Hanna Mіhailouskaya: "We made 35 millions on stowaways in January. It is about 5 thousand people per month”.

The profit of Minsk transport service increased by about 10% during the last month.  However, according to the head of the financial and economic department, ticket-collectors no longer catch stowaways, but … frighten them.

Hanna Mіhailouskaya: "We do not have the aim of increasing the number of fined stowaways. We tend to explain the problem to them so that they would pay and understand that they have to pay the fare just like they pay for goods in shops. Nobody catches them – if they are trying to punch their tickets we let them do it. Sometimes we go in groups and do not get on buses if we see that people have started punching tickets”.

Minskers have not started buying more season tickets after the benefits cancellation…