“Serhii Leshchenko, a member of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia, commented on the criticism of the offer of free distribution of tickets within the framework of the UZ-3000 program, which allows free travel up to 3,000 km. Serhii Leshchenko, deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia, told about this in an interview with Glavkom. According to him, although domestic transportation is usually unprofitable, it contributes to the growth of GDP, as it increases the mobility of the population”, — write on: ua.news
Serhii Leshchenko, a member of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia, commented on the criticism of the offer of free distribution of tickets within the framework of the UZ-3000 program, which allows free travel up to 3,000 km.
Serhiy Leshchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ukrzaliznytsia, told about this in an interview.Glavkomma“.
According to him, although domestic transportation is usually unprofitable, it contributes to the growth of GDP, as it increases the mobility of the population and activates economic processes.
Leshchenko noted that the program is designed to attract more passengers during the “low” season, when the demand for transportation decreases.
He added that they plan to issue about a million free tickets, which is only a part of the weekly volume of transportation of 500,000 passengers. Leshchenko is sure that even those who have already planned trips will use the opportunity of free tickets, but in general it will not affect the critical indicators.
Leshchenko reacted to the criticism that the free tickets will be used by those who would definitely go and buy tickets even in the “off-season”. “Those who were going to travel for money will, of course, be able to travel for free, but in the total volume of passenger transportation, it will not be a critically large number. We transport about 500,000 passengers per week, and under the UZ-3000 program we offer 250,000 tickets per month,” Serhiy Leshchenko said.
He also emphasized the possibility of postponing business trips, which will allow companies to save money and direct them to support defense needs.
“We can compare the statistics of high and low seasons right now. In the first week of November, 511,000 passengers were transported, and in one of the weeks of August, 626,000 passengers, that is, more than 100,000 more. If we count the passenger flow per month, the difference, for example, between February and August can reach 700 thousand passengers. Therefore, we offer part of this resource as a bonus program,” he explained.
Serhii Leshchenko also spoke about the criticism of the damage to the railway. “Domestic transportation in itself is unprofitable, but the more people travel, the more this mobility of the population leads to an increase in GDP, because money circulates more actively,” said the former deputy. He also said that he tries not to react to criticism and negative reactions to the project.
The program will continue until further improvement of the quality of railway transportation in Ukraine. Leshchenko hopes that increasing the mobility of citizens will be the way to an elementary increase in investments in domestic infrastructure, because economic changes always require support in the processes.
National Association of Mining Industry (NADPU) called Ukrzaliznytsia not to raise tariffs for freight transportation in wartime conditions.
“Ukrzaliznytsia” signed a contract with the French company Alstom for the supply of 55 electric locomotives with a total cost of 475 million euros.
