Residents of Novokuznetsk staged a protest due to the reduction of bus routes. They refused to leave the city hall

In Novokuznetsk, representatives of private carriers and social activists spoke out against transport reform in the city. More than 100 people came to the city hall to meet with the authorities, but after the meeting in the large hall of the administration, the protesters did not disperse, Kommersant writes.

Carriers and social activists demanded the return of some of the passenger transport routes that were closed during the reform. Among other things, people asked to bring the carriers’ buses back to the routes. The administration did not agree with this, citing legally carried out route distribution procedures. The mayor's office reported that the negotiations were informal and it was decided to continue them on November 24.

“Taiga.info” wrote on November 18 that on the first day of completion of the transport reform in Novokuznetsk, buses left the line late, and drivers who came from St. Petersburg did not know where to go. Passengers reported that four buses were out of service during the day.

In February, Novokuznetsk adopted a new transport scheme, which reduced duplicate routes - instead of 80, there were 50 left. The buses were replaced - the contractor was obliged to put medium, large and especially large capacity buses on the line. In August, during the auctions, the main part of the city routes was received by Piteravto LLC from St. Petersburg. Contracts with the organization were concluded for ten years.

Owners of private motor transport enterprises in the city accused Mayor Sergei Kuznetsov of abuse of power and corruption.

“For eight years in power, Sergei Kuznetsov has not purchased a single bus using budget funds. Because of which we can say that the Novokuznetsk mayor’s office is trying to establish a monopoly on the transportation of people by attracting a supplier from another region,” said the owner of Avtoline LLC, Evgenia Koryukova.