It is planned to allocate ₴180 million for travel compensation for beneficiaries in Mykolaiv

Buses from Prague that were handed over to Mykolaivpastrans. Photo: Mykolaivpastrans

In 2025, it is planned to allocate 179.2 million hryvnias from the city budget for travel compensation for preferential categories in city transport.

Serhii Vasylenko, director of the department of labor and social protection of the population of the Mykolayiv city council, reported this during the meeting of the city commission on issues of legality, according to NikVesti.

The increase in funding is planned as part of the social protection program for 2024-2026 and is associated with an increase in the number of beneficiaries, including families of the dead and persons with disabilities as a result of the war.

«Today we compensate travel only on Mykolaivpastratrans and EvrotransTechservice buses, which serve routes to Matviivka. For 2024, an amount of 179.2 million hryvnias is provided. This year, less was allocated, but the purchase of additional transport is planned for next year,» Serhii Vasylenko noted.

According to the program data, in 2024, the department allocated 101 million 696 thousand hryvnias for travel compensation for preferential categories in city transport.

List of tasks and measures of the «Social Protection» program for 2024-2026. Screenshot from the document

The compensation calculation process is carried out with the help of an established coefficient, which was calculated before the war and reflects the percentage of beneficiaries among the total number of passengers. Transport companies, such as Mykolaivpastratrans, provide data on ticket revenue on a monthly basis. This amount is multiplied by a factor that allows you to determine the amount of compensation that the city pays to carriers for servicing preferential categories.

Serhii Vasylenko noted that this coefficient has not been updated since the beginning of the war, although the number of beneficiaries in the city has increased.

«Today we still use the old method. Perhaps it is not so real today, and we have not changed this coefficient for the entire war. Although we understand that the number of beneficiaries has not decreased, and they are practically all in the city,» explained Serhii Vasylenko.

The head of the commission, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council from the «European Solidarity» party, Olena Kiseliova, raised the issue of the lack of electronic cards for beneficiaries, which are already used in other cities of Ukraine, noting that in Mykolaiv, compensation is still carried out using outdated methods.

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«Why has a citizen's card been introduced in other cities of Ukraine and a certain amount of discounted transportation has been established on it, and it's all digitized. And in our country, like 10 years ago, money was simply transferred on some plates,» she said.

Serhii Vasylenko noted that before the war, the issue of introducing a «citizen's card» was discussed, but it was not implemented.

«Before the war, this issue was repeatedly raised, discussions were held and some companies participated, but it was not implemented due to various reasons. We hope that after the war we will switch to targeted compensation,» he said.

We would like to remind that public buses in Mykolaiv are planning to make free travel for schoolchildren. For this, they will only need to provide a valid student card.

It is also possible to pay the fare by bank card in Mykolaiv city buses. At the moment, the terminals have been installed in five buses of KP Mykolaivpastrans.