Author: Dallandyshe Xhaferri
One of the daily problems of the capital is heavy traffic, almost every hour. If public transport would work according to what is stated in the contract with the urban service companies or the public statements of the leaders of the Municipality of Tirana, perhaps more people would prefer not to move with vehicles.
But moving with public transport is a challenge in itself, especially in the summer and winter season. Summer was left behind, with its problems in the use of public transport by the citizens of Tirana, but with the arrival of winter, they remain the same. An observation on some urban lines during three days of August this year, highlights the problems faced by the citizens, problems which would not exist if the ordinance of the Municipality of Tirana was respected for the conditions of service provision, and 6 years ago.
The date is August 5, 2022, and in the city of the Ring line the temperature reaches 34.5 degrees Celsius, while the air humidity reaches 43%. Among a large number of people, you can easily distinguish the boredom of the passengers, who, after paying for the ticket, push each other to make room for the cashier.
"It's 13:45 p.m., 15 minutes have passed and I still haven't arrived at my destination",- says Anila, a student of Natural Sciences, who admits that she does not often use public transport.
"During the school period, I don't often use the bus, because it is always late and I don't arrive on time when I have lessons during the first hours", - she says, adding that the lack of signs with the departure and arrival times of urban buses at the destination still remains an unfulfilled need for travelers within the capital.
"The air conditioning is only used in cases of extreme weather conditions, but it is not powerful enough to benefit all passengers",- she says, emphasizing that the service received by customers does not justify the ticket price.
"We pay 40 or 80 lek when we need to take two lines, and in addition to arriving late at the destination, we find ourselves in an environment overflowing with passengers, where the air does not circulate and we cannot breathe", - she says.
After a request for information sent to the Consumer Protection Agency, the latter states that only during the January-September period of last year, 68 complaints were registered for this line.
"Specifically, the majority of complaints have come due to significant delays, slow movement of vehicles, malfunction of the air conditioner, as well as the behavior of the internal staff",- is written in response.
The high temperatures of summer, the ordinance of the Tirana Municipality is not respected in public transport
In the ordinance issued by the Municipality of Tirana in 2016, it is determined that all the vehicles that are part of the public urban transport fleet must be equipped with air conditioning in conditions where the temperatures exceed the minimum value of 15 degrees and the maximum value of 22 degrees Celsius .
According to the observations carried out by ACQJ on August 5 and 8, 2022, it turns out that the ordinance of the Municipality is not respected in any of 8 of the 16 urban lines operating in Tirana.
Specifically, on the Sauk-Center line, the measured temperatures reached 31.2 degrees Celsius and the air humidity was 51.1%. On the line of New Tirana, the temperatures reached 33.7 degrees Celsius, while the air humidity was 49%, although the city was equipped with air conditioning.
"It is not normal to travel in such conditions, but there is nothing we can do",- says an elderly man as he descends from the overflowing city of New Tirana.
"Now I have to walk 10 minutes, but I don't want to take another urban because the pension is 20 Lek and I can't spend 80 Lek a day just to take the urban and see my niece", he says.
In the city of Kamza at 14:05 p.m. on August 8, the air humidity reached 41%, while the temperature reached 33.3 degrees Celsius, in the city of the Kombinat-Centre line, the temperature was 33 degrees Celsius, while the humidity was 44%. in the city of the Allias line, the temperature reached 34.1 degrees Celsius.
The situation was no different in the Kinostudjo and Porcelan lines, where temperatures reached 33.8 degrees Celsius and air humidity was 41%.
The Consumer Protection Agency admits to ACQJ that inspectors carry out continuous checks every day.
"Mainly during peak traffic times of citizens who travel by means of urban transport",- says the answer while affirming that the lack of air conditioning in public transport is a recurring problem.
Lack of subsidies, due to poor quality service
The representative of the Urban Transport Association, Dashnor Memaj, tells ACQJ that since 2013, transport within the capital has been carried out by 11 private operators, who provide transport Services on 16 different lines.
"Urbans have the capacity to provide the service, but only a few lines manage to provide this service in a qualitative way",- says Memaj, who adds that since the start of the pandemic, the operators do not have the economic and human power to put the fleet of vehicles to work at full capacity.
"The increase in the price of oil has an immediate impact on the economic performance of public transport entities, increasing the cost of our economic activity and causing the ticket price not to justify the smooth running of the service",- he says, emphasizing that urban transport is at the critical point of economic survival due to the lack of infrastructure.
"If we didn't have the continuous support that the countries of the region and beyond have, there will be no improvement in the service. Not that we don't want to offer it to passengers, but we can't", - he concludes by adding that "if there will be no continuous subsidy, there will have to be an increase in the price of the ticket, since the income of private operators depends on the ticket".
Meanwhile, the Municipality of Tirana said through a written answer that in the budget of 2022 the subsidy of city lines in the value of 136 000 000 ALL has been approved, but to the questions of ACQJ regarding the quality of service in the means of urban transport, and whether they are penal measures were taken against the operators who violate the ordinances of the Municipality, the latter did not give an answer, delegating the fault of the malfunction of this service, and the monitoring of the operators, to the Consumer Protection Agency and the Directorate of Public Transport.
Until the moment of publication of this article, these two questions have not received an answer.
1 urban for 2 932 inhabitants, Memaj: Licenses are not revoked for malfunctioning air conditioners
According to official data from INSTAT, 32,9% of the population of the Republic of Albania is concentrated in the region of Tirana. Specifically, approximately 912 inhabitants live in Tirana, while the urban transport fleet consists of only 311 urban buses, not all of them in operation, which means that in the best case, 1 urban bus enables transportation within the capital for 2 inhabitants .
According to Memaj, the urban overflow comes as a result of the same schedules that citizens have to start their activities. "The peak is during the 07:00-08:00 hours, as well as during the afternoons when citizens return from work",- he says, adding that urban residents should have a separate lane to enable passengers to arrive on time.
"On the urban lines of Tirana, it is necessary to use air conditioners, but so far no license line has been removed for this reason". - he says, stressing that only last year the license was removed from the companies that managed the Tufina and Unaza lines, where for this decision the Mayor Veliaj himself stated that the main reason was the abuse during the exercise of the activity during the lockdoën (isolation) in country since the pandemic.
Winter is approaching, and just like during the summer when citizens suffered in scorching temperatures in urban buses without air conditioning, they are also expected to suffer the harsh days of December and January. The lack of conditions in urban areas has made citizens who do not have the opportunity to use their vehicles or taxis, they are always in the middle of the dilemma: by urban or on foot?
