Electronic tickets in Mykolaiv: the transport department is to provide the figures

In Mykolaiv, there is renewed talk of electronic tickets. Photo: https://krokus.tv

In Mykolaiv, the city council’s committee on housing and communal services has decided to revisit the issue of introducing electronic tickets on public transport. The transport department is to provide documents and cost estimates for the project, as well as information on previous attempts to attract an investor.

This was discussed during a meeting of the council committee on 21 September, according to NikVesti.

Oleh Kuksa, Deputy Head of the Department for Transport, Communications and Telecommunications, recalled that the city had already been considering the possibility of introducing an electronic ticketing system prior to the full-scale invasion. According to him, a tender was announced at the time to find an investor, but no one came forward to take part.

«We carried out the work and launched the tender, but nobody came forward for this particular tender,» said Oleh Kuksa.

He explained that the city currently lacks the funds to purchase the necessary equipment and maintain it, which is why they had been counting on attracting an investor. Oleh Kuksa noted that a potential investor should derive economic benefit from participating in the project, specifically a share of the revenue from the sale of electronic tickets.

Following the discussion, commission member Yurii Stepanets proposed including the issue of e-tickets on the agenda for the commission’s next meeting. He also proposed instructing the Transport Department to prepare all available documents relating to the project, information on the work carried out, previous enquiries to potential investors and up-to-date calculations of the necessary funds.

The committee agreed to put this recommendation to a vote.

The issue of electronic ticketing is also planned to be considered in the context of the work of the future supervisory board. Committee members proposed that, once the board members have been elected, their plans and vision for the work – particularly regarding this issue – should be heard.

It should be noted that the issue of introducing e-tickets on public transport in Mykolaiv has been under discussion for many years. Plans to introduce such a system were first mooted back in 2016. In February 2017, the president signed a law providing for the introduction of e-tickets. This allows local authorities to set up automated payment systems and completely phase out traditional tickets and cash payments.

In June of that year, the then Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure stated that he did not know when he would be able to implement this project, whilst also asserting that he had been working on this issue since the day he took office.

In May 2018, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych instructed city council officials to introduce e-tickets as soon as possible. By that time, in accordance with Ukrainian law, this project should have been operational for a year.

A month later, on 1 June 2018, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych and the director of «Mykolaivelektrotrans», Volodymyr Yevtushenko, signed a memorandum with Visa to launch a pilot project for the introduction of e-tickets.

Oleh Manushevych, then head of the City Council’s Transport Department, promised to roll out the e-ticket system by the end of 2018, not only on municipal electric transport but also on private minibuses. However, this did not happen by the end of the year.

In November 2020, proposals for the introduction of electronic ticketing on city transport were presented in Mykolaiv.