Around 1.1 mln Kyiv residents can use subsidized travel - KCSA
Currently, around 1.1 million city residents can use subsidized travel in the capital, the Department of Social and Veteran Policy of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) reports.
"Thus, this year the capital’s budget provides almost UAH 875 million for compensation of subsidized travel, of which UAH 181.7 million is for schoolchildren, students, and cadets. The largest category is pensioners — over 570,000 people," the report on the city hall’s website says.
As noted by KCSA, the right to free travel is also held by combat veterans and persons equated to them; people with disabilities of groups I, II, and III; children with disabilities; persons affected by the Chornobyl NPP accident; persons caring for a person or child with a group I disability, as well as other categories of beneficiaries.
The city administration states that the city budget does not receive compensation for the travel of subsidized population categories.
"However, for years the state has not returned funds for the free travel of beneficiaries, which it guarantees by law itself. Let us remind you that the Kyiv City Council appealed to the government and parliament back in May 2021 regarding the compensation of subsidized travel payments from the state budget. Therefore, the city is forced to independently finance hundreds of millions of hryvnias every year," KCSA said.
The city administration uses this to justify attempts to increase tariffs for using city municipal transport by more than three times, and also emphasizes that tariffs have not been revised since 2018.
"In addition, the cost of travel in Kyiv has not been revised since 2018, while prices for fuel, electricity, and logistics are rising rapidly. Public transport has the opportunity to operate only due to subsidies from the city budget, which reached UAH 12 billion," the city hall insists.
KCSA reminded that discussion of the new tariff calculations, which "were prepared taking into account price indexes for industrial products, labor costs, and the cost of energy resources," lasts until June 1, 2026.