Terms of competition for passenger transportation. The city announced a competition for the organization of transportation by minibuses on a new model. Why is it unprofitable for "private traders" to carry

Agreed:

Deputy Mayors of the city of Suzdal

TENDER DOCUMENTATION

at the choice of the carrier for non-subsidized shipments

on municipal bus routes

city ​​of Suzdal:

LOT No. 1 - ROUTE No. 3

LOT No. 2 - ROUTE No. 6

1. General Provisions

1.1. The subject of the competition is the right to conclude an agreement for non-subsidized transportation of passengers by public motor transport on regular (permanent) urban routes in the municipality of Suzdal.

The competition can be held for each competitive route or a set of routes that have a common direction and are grouped into separate lots.

1.2. The competition is held through the qualification selection of owners of public passenger motor transport (hereinafter referred to as carriers), which ensures timely and complete satisfaction of the needs of the population in regular passenger transportation by attracting carriers regardless of their organizational and legal forms and forms of ownership and creating equal competitive opportunities for them in servicing passengers on regular (permanent) city bus routes.

1.3. Attracting carriers to carry out passenger transportation is carried out on a subsidized basis, along city routes, formed on the basis of the state, capacity of the route network, existing passenger flows, as well as received proposals for the development of the city route network.

1.4. The organizer of the competition is the administration of the municipality of the city of Suzdal.

1.5. Contest organizer:

Determines the date of the competition;

Determines the deadlines for the submission and consideration of applications for participation in the competition;

Introduces applicants to the documentation on the procedure for holding the competition;

Publishes information about the results of the competition;

Concludes an agreement with the winner of the competition.

2. Requirements for the participants of the competition

2.1. Participants of the competition may be individuals and legal entities that meet the requirements for passenger carriers in accordance with these Regulations.

2.2. The tender participant must be solvent, must not be in the process of liquidation, bankruptcy, cannot be a person whose property has been seized and (or) whose activities have been suspended.

2.3. None of the participants in the competition can be provided with preferential conditions for participation in the competition.

Restriction or termination of access of any persons to participation in the competition, as well as exclusion from its participants of persons entitled to participate in the competition, is possible only as a result of their violation of these Regulations and current legislation.

3. Competition commission

3.1. To conduct the competition, a competition commission is formed in the composition approved by the decision of the administration of the municipality of the city of Suzdal.

Accepts applications and ensures their safety;

Makes a decision on admission (or justified refusal to admit) applicants to participate in the competition;

Decides on the winner of the competition.

3.3. The work of the commission is managed by the chairman of the competition commission.

The secretary accepts documents and draws up minutes of the commission's meetings.

3.4. Decisions of the commission are made by a simple majority of votes of the members of the commission participating in the meeting. When voting, each member of the commission has one vote. The commission is authorized to resolve issues within its competence if at least half of its members are present at the meeting.

3.5. Decisions of the commission are documented in minutes, which are signed by all members of the commission who participated in the meeting, within the time limits specified in clauses 5.9 and 5.16 of these Regulations.

4. Information support and submission procedure

documents for the competition

4.1. The organizer of the competition places an information message on the conditions and terms of the competition in the media and on the official website of the administration of the city of Suzdal at least 30 days before the date of the competition. The information message must contain the following information:

Name of the organizer of the competition;

Location address, postal address and list of contact numbers of the organizer of the competition;

Competition form;

The subject of the competition;

The order of the competition;

The procedure and terms for familiarization with the tender documentation (conditions of the tender);

Place of submission of applications;

Date and time of the start of submission of applications for participation in the competition;

The date and time of the deadline for submitting applications for participation in the competition;

Place, date and time of opening the envelopes, considering applications and making a decision on admission or refusal to admit applicants to participate in the second stage of the competition;

The term for evaluating and comparing applications, determining the winner;

The procedure for familiarization with the results of the competition;

The term and procedure for concluding the contract;

Description of the route or a set of routes put up for the competition (including the necessary conditions for transportation).

4.2. Simultaneously with the placement of an information message about the competition, the official website of the administration of the city of Suzdal publishes tender documentation for holding an open competition for the right to conclude an agreement on the implementation of non-subsidized transportation of passengers by public transport on regular (permanent) city bus routes on the territory of the municipality of the city of Suzdal.

4.3. To participate in the competition, applicants in a sealed envelope submit to the commission: an application for participation in the competition in the form approved by the competition documentation, with the following documents attached:

Notarized copies of constituent documents and certificate of state registration (for legal entities), a copy of the certificate of state registration of an individual entrepreneur without forming a legal entity (for individual entrepreneurs);

5.4. The competition is held in two stages.

5.5. The first stage is:

Opening envelopes;

Checking the availability of documents and information submitted by applicants, specified in paragraph 4.3 of these Regulations;

Verification of applicants' compliance with the requirements established by the Federal Law of 01.01.2001 N 196-FZ "On Road Safety" and other regulatory legal acts governing the organization of passenger transportation;

Making a decision on admission or refusal to admit applicants to participate in the second stage of the competition.

Before opening the envelopes, the tender commission makes sure that they are safe.

Applicants have the right to be present at the meeting of the commission, where the envelopes are opened.

5.6. The applicant is not allowed to the second stage of the competitive selection and further evaluation of his established criteria of the competition by the commission is not carried out in the following cases:

1) incompleteness of the submitted documents and information specified in paragraph 4.3 of this Regulation;

2) non-compliance with the requirements established by the Federal Law of 01.01.2001 N 196-FZ "On Road Safety" and other regulatory legal acts regulating the activities of organizing passenger transportation, namely:

Absence (in ownership, lease, gratuitous use, etc.) of a technical base for servicing vehicles, which allows performing maintenance and (or) repairs, or the absence of a contract for servicing vehicles for performing maintenance and (or) repairs;

The inability to conduct pre-trip and post-trip technical inspection of vehicles and the contract for pre-trip and post-trip technical inspection of vehicles;

The inability of the applicant to conduct a pre-trip (post-trip) medical examination of drivers:

1) the absence of an agreement with a specialized organization for the provision of services for the pre-trip (post-trip) medical examination of drivers with a copy of the relevant license attached;

2) the absence of an employment contract with a medical worker who is entitled to carry out a pre-trip (post-trip) medical examination of drivers with a copy of the certificate confirming the completion of special training and a copy of the relevant license;

5.7. From the moment the envelopes are opened, the tender commission has the right to check the information provided by the applicant in the submitted documents, demand their clarification and confirmation.

5.8. In the event that, based on the results of consideration of applications for participation in the competition, a decision was made to refuse admission to participation in the competition of all applicants who submitted applications for participation in the competition, or on admission to participation in the competition and recognition as a participant in the competition only one applicant who submitted an application to participate in the competition, the competition is declared invalid.

5.9. Based on the results of consideration of applications for participation in the competition, the competition commission makes a decision on admission or refusal of admission of applicants to participate in the second stage of the competition and signs the protocol for consideration of applications for participation in the competition on the day of consideration of applications for participation in the competition.

5.10. The organizer of the competition, within three days from the date of signing the protocol for considering applications for participation in the competition, notifies applicants of the decision to admit or refuse admission to participation in the second stage of the competition.

5.11. At the second stage of the competition, an analysis of the comparative characteristics of the participants in the competition is carried out according to a group of indicators that make it possible to identify the participant in the competition that provides the best conditions for the execution of the contract for the transportation of passengers by public transport on regular (permanent) city bus routes on the territory of the municipality of the city of Suzdal. The Commission has the right to involve specialists-consultants for studying and evaluating documents, as well as to demand clarifications from the tender participant of the documents submitted by him.

5.12. The commission evaluates the submitted documents of the tender participant according to the point system according to the following indicators:

QUALIFICATION INDICATORS

(*) information is submitted twelve months before the month preceding the date of publication of the information message on the tender (evaluation period)

(**) Justified complaints of local authorities and passengers regarding the operation of vehicles on the route, as well as violation of the contract for the carriage of passengers are considered as comments.

5.13. The winner of the competition is the participant who receives the most points.

5.14. If, as a result of evaluating and comparing applications for participation in the competition, two or more participants received the same number of points, the winner is the participant whose application was submitted earlier than other applications.

5.15. Evaluation and comparison of applications for participation in the competition is carried out by the competition commission within ten days from the date of signing the protocol for considering applications for participation in the competition.

5.16. The final protocol of evaluation and comparison of bids for participation in the tender is drawn up within the working day following the day of the evaluation and comparison of bids for participation in the tender.

5.17. The organizer of the competition places the final protocol of evaluation and comparison of applications for participation in the competition in the media and on the official website of the administration of the city of Suzdal no later than five working days after the date of signing the specified protocol.

5.18. The organizer of the competition, within three working days from the date of signing the protocol of evaluation and comparison of applications for participation in the competition, sends this protocol and the draft contract to the winner of the competition.

5.19. In the event that the competition is declared invalid and only one applicant who submitted an application for participation in the competition is recognized as a participant in the competition, the competition commission decides to grant the right to conclude an agreement to such a participant. The customer, within three working days from the date of signing the protocol for considering applications for participation in the tender, transfers the draft contract to the tender participant. In this case, the contract is concluded on the terms that are provided for in the application for participation in the tender and tender documentation for a period of 3 years.

5.20. The winner of the tender must sign and seal the specified draft contract and return it to the customer within 10 days from the date of signing the protocol of evaluation and comparison of applications for participation in the tender.

5.21. If the tender winner has not signed and (or) returned the contract to the customer within 10 days from the date of signing the protocol of evaluation and comparison of bids for participation in the tender, the contract may be concluded with the bidder whose bid for participation in the tender has been assigned the next number according to the evaluation results.

5.22. The conclusion of an agreement for the transportation of passengers by public motor transport on regular (permanent) city bus routes on the territory of the municipality of the city of Suzdal without a tender is possible for a period of 3 years in the following cases:

If the competition is declared invalid due to the submission of only one application for participation in the competition and the application is recognized as corresponding to the competition documentation;

If the need to organize regular transportation of passengers arose due to force majeure circumstances.

6. Procedure for appealing against actions.

6.1. The actions of the customer and the organizer of the competition may be appealed in the manner prescribed by the law of the Russian Federation dated 01.01.2001 "On Protection of Competition" and (or) in the manner determined by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation and the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

On the participant's letterhead

Date Ref No. ___

APPLICATION

to participate in the competition

for the right to conclude an agreement on the implementation of non-subsidized transportation of passengers by public motor transport on regular (permanent) city bus routes on the territory of the municipality of the city of Suzdal

Having studied the tender documentation for the right to conclude an agreement for the transportation of passengers on regular city bus routes on the territory of the Moscow Region of Suzdal, as well as the legislative and regulatory legal acts applicable to this tender, _____________________________________________________________

(indicate the full name of the order placement participant)

in the person of _______________________________________________________________,

(indicate position, full name)

informs about the consent to participate in the tender on the conditions established by this tender documentation and sends this application.

The bidder agrees to perform the work (services) provided for by the bid in accordance with the requirements of the bid documentation and on the terms and conditions presented in the bid, which are an integral part of the bid.

With this application, we guarantee the accuracy of the information provided by us and confirm the right of the customer, which does not contradict the requirement for the formation of equal conditions for all participants in the tender, to request information clarifying the information provided by us.

We hereby confirm that we are familiar with the content of the tender documentation, the draft contract for the implementation of passenger transportation and accept them in full.

In the event that our proposals are recognized as the best, we undertake to conclude an agreement with the customer within 10 days from the date of signing the protocol of the results of the competition.

We inform you that for operational interaction on organizational issues, we are authorized by __________________________________________

(Full name, phone number of contact person)

Please provide all information about the competition to the authorized person.

Our legal and actual addresses:

phone fax ________,

details, including bank details ____________________________________________________

Correspondence to us, please send to: _________________________

Documents are attached to this application according to the inventory on _____ p.

Head of the organization ___________________________ _________________________

M. P. Signature Surname I. O

Alexandra NOVICHKOVA

No matter how hard the Russian city authorities try to solve the problems associated with the critical state of passenger transportation, the situation on the market for these services is only getting worse. And to a greater extent this applies not to large cities, but to regions and regions remote from Central Russia. And this is quite natural, because in big cities there is competition one way or another. An alternative to ground passenger transport in several Russian cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara and Kazan) is the subway. In the Russian capital, more than 60% of citywide passenger traffic is carried out by this type of transport. But what about those cities that, apart from the bus, have no other mode of transport?

Meanwhile, city authorities continue to hold competitions for the right to carry out passenger transportation on a particular route. And despite the fact that this system was introduced about two years ago, the controversy around it does not subside.

By the way, in many European cities such a procedure is also carried out. And there are enough other problems associated with urban passenger transportation both in Russia and in Europe.

In the traffic maze

The dream of any Russian passenger is to be delivered to the destination as quickly as possible, cheaper, safer and preferably with comfort. And such services throughout Russia were provided by private operators. At a time when municipal urban transport, to put it mildly, could not cope with the volume of passenger traffic, it was individual entrepreneurs who rescued it. They promptly filled almost all empty niches in the passenger transportation market, thereby providing Russian passengers with timely and more or less comfortable delivery conditions from point A to point B.

Several years passed, and the city authorities realized that they were missing out on a big profit by giving a big "piece of the pie" to private carriers. However, they have already lost their time - it has become almost impossible to find a free niche for municipal and state transportation. From such a difficult situation, they saw only one way out - to gradually oust individual entrepreneurs from the passenger transportation market.

Since 2006, competitions have been held in Russia, according to the results of which the carriers that won in the so-called competition began to have the “exclusive” right to a specific route. And it seems that the purpose of the competition is good - to provide passengers with high-quality, updated rolling stock, improve transportation safety, structure the city's route network, and form a passenger transportation system based on the needs of the population. Only now these very needs began to be determined not on the basis of the real demand of passengers, but on the basis of the decision of city administrations.

In fact, the conditions for admission to the competition did not leave any chance for small carriers. Indeed, without a large number of predominantly large vehicles, no route, even the most unprofitable, “does not shine” for small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, according to research by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, most Russian cities are planned according to the radial-ring principle. Therefore, as a rule, there are no parallel, duplicating routes in cities, i.e., a passenger can get to the desired place only along one line. And according to the competitive system, each route is assigned to only one carrier. Thus, competition in the urban passenger transportation market is cut down "in the bud". And if one of the passengers is not satisfied with this, he has a great alternative - to become a pedestrian.

Such a clearly biased holding of competitions caused dissatisfaction among private carriers, which led them to numerous protests. A wave of strikes by carriers swept across Russia. Many of them appealed to the Arbitration Courts and, by the way, they won most of the cases. So, for example, in the Rostov region, the Arbitration Court, in response to an appeal from private carriers, ruled that it was illegal to hold a tender for passenger transportation by fixed-route taxis on the lines of the city of Novoshakhtinsk. There, the city administration has created all the conditions to remove private companies from the passenger transportation market. But two separate participants of the competition were given such concessions, thanks to which it was easier than ever to become the winner of the competition. The companies that won the competition were allowed to enter minibuses that did not have license cards for passenger transportation, one of the participants did not even have the required number of cars to service the routes according to the competition lot. And this is not all the violations committed by the city administration.

What are these two companies - only the city authorities and the companies themselves know the answer to this question. However, one should not have extrasensory insight to assume that this is either “one’s own” (a relative, for example), or a “foreign”, but very “grateful” carrier.

There are countless such cases throughout the country. Carrier strikes took place in almost all cities (in Tyumen, Ulan-Ude, Omsk, Kostroma, Voronezh, Orenburg, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk and others). Private traders are ready to accept any conditions of the city authorities, as long as they are provided with normal, profitable routes. However, the administrations of Russian cities continue to oust individual entrepreneurs from the passenger transportation market. Thousands of individual entrepreneurs lose their jobs. Meanwhile, private traders not only successfully solved the problems of their own employment, but also created jobs for other citizens of the Russian Federation.

There is another problem that is directly related to the introduction of the competitive system. And first of all, the city administrations themselves faced it. We are talking about the so-called shadow business, generated by the redistribution and monopolization of the urban passenger market by city administrations. Small and medium-sized enterprises, mercilessly ousted from the passenger transportation market by municipal and city enterprises, are forced to go "under the wings" of the official route owners.

The owner of the route can conclude an agreement with the owner of the bus on joint activities and sell him the right to work on his route. There is another option - to draw up a bus rental agreement with the owner of these vehicles, and to register him as a hired driver. In this case, under the guise of a rental relationship, the driver pays a bribe to the owner of the route from his daily income. All this, of course, will entail an increase in tariffs for passenger transportation.

Moscow does not believe in tears…

If in most Russian cities the main problem has become the lack of competition in the passenger transportation market, and with it the increase in the waiting time for cars at bus stops and the cost of travel, then in the Russian capital the main problem has long been traffic congestion, due to which every day thousands passengers are late for work, for the train, for the plane ...

According to official statistics, about 13 million people in Moscow need mobility every day. Although practice shows that there is a much larger number of real and potential public transport passengers in the metropolis. And the city's population continues to grow exponentially. It’s scary to even think how the residents of the Russian capital will get to work, for example, in ten years…

Previously, the planning of bus routes for non-state operators took place within the walls of the Moscow Department of Transport and Communications. A special commission met there, which included representatives of the UGIBDD for Moscow, the Central Directorate of Gosavtodornadzor, the prefectures of the administrative districts of Moscow, the Department of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties for Moscow, the Moscow Transport Union and the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans. But in the 90s, the network of Moscow city routes, which was served by private traders, began to develop rapidly. And the improvement of not only Moscow, but also the federal legislative and regulatory framework for passenger transportation, as usual, did not keep pace with such a rapid pace of the emergence of new city routes. And the Moscow government obviously did not keep track of the increase in the population of the city.

In 2005, the employees of the department woke up and began, together with the Government of Moscow, to develop a resolution allegedly aimed at improving the level of safety in the operation of city bus routes. And on June 20, 2006, it entered into force. This is the Decree of the Government of Moscow No. 421-GSh "On the procedure for organizing regular city bus routes in the city of Moscow." According to this document, in order to work on a particular line, the carrier must conclude an agreement on the implementation of the project for the organization of regular city bus routes with the Moscow Department of Transport and Communications. The projects of their organization are being developed by the institute that won the competition, the Transport Infrastructure Research Center, which has become a specialized design organization in Moscow.

The project for organizing a regular city bus route includes:

Passport of the route, route with indication of dangerous sections, as well as starting and ending points;

Route schedule;

Scheme of organizing the movement of the route at the final sites, including the arrangement of stop signs of the established sample, placement of landing and disembarkation places, placement of rolling stock in places of sludge, the route from the sludge place to the landing site;

List of stops on the route and their arrangement in accordance with applicable regulations.

Today, 696 operating regular city bus routes have been approved in the Russian capital. Moreover, when the resolution was adopted, the Moscow Government decided not to hold tenders with those carriers that worked on existing routes, but to leave them the right to continue to carry people on these lines. If, for one reason or another, the carrier refused to carry passengers on the route assigned to it, then this line became a “trophy” for which the carriers fought on a competitive basis. Competitions began to be held for new routes.

The vast majority (more than 80%) of urban passenger traffic, however, as in other Russian cities, in the Russian capital is carried out by a state enterprise. In the case of Moscow, this is the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans. Every year it transports about 2 billion people and operates on 683 bus, trolleybus and tram routes, on which a certain category of citizens has the right to preferential travel. For this, the enterprise receives subsidies from the Moscow Government and the Department of Transport and Communications. In addition, 68 non-state companies are engaged in urban passenger transportation in Moscow.

For more than ten years, every year the Department of Transport and Communications of the Government of Moscow concludes state contracts with Mosgortrans without subjecting the enterprise to a competitive procedure.

For private traders, however, it is a completely different “song”. Essentially, any individual or entity can apply to open a route with the Department of Transport and Communications. However, further this proposal will be considered for a long time for its expediency at the expert council under the Department (again, when making a decision, the opinion of a Moscow passenger is not taken into account by anyone). It consists of representatives of the UGIBDD of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow, the Central Directorate of Gosavtodornadzor, the prefectures of the administrative districts of Moscow, the Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection of Moscow, the Moscow Transport Union, the State Unitary Enterprise "Moscow Metro" and the State Center for Traffic Organization - a total of 17 city organizations. The Council conducts an expert assessment, after which it decides whether this route is necessary for the city. If a decision is made in favor of a new line, then the Center for Transport Infrastructure Research Institute receives an assignment to develop it, after which this project is put up for competition.

Naturally, the procedure takes a colossal amount of time that the carrier could spend on work. Deputy Head of the Department of Transport and Communications of the Moscow Government Alexander Vorobyov explains this by the fact that the conditions of the metropolis are too complicated to determine the need for passengers on a particular route.

To date, 36 contracts have been concluded in Moscow with private carriers for the right to carry passengers on a specific route. But even if the carrier won the competition, this does not mean that it will work on this route. He still has to go through "seven circles of hell" before gaining a foothold in the lane. The quality and safety of its work must certainly suit the group of operational control over the progress of the implementation of contracts for the right to implement projects of regular city bus routes in Moscow (it was created by the Department of Transport and Communications). Otherwise, the contract with this carrier may be terminated. There is another condition, without which the carrier will not be admitted to passenger transportation. This is a requirement for buses to comply with the Euro-2 environmental standard.

The situation is even more complicated with interregional passenger transportation. It may seem funny (if it were not so sad), but in such a big city as the Russian capital, with its crazy rhythm of life and huge population density, there is not a single bus station. And this, of course, is the number one problem for organizing interregional passenger transportation in Moscow. The Shchelkovsky bus station, which the residents of the metropolis are accustomed to consider to be Moscow, actually belongs to the Moscow region. And the Russian capital has to be content with only temporary points of departure and arrival of buses. Today, the Moscow Government is developing a program for the construction of five bus stations. How long this process will last is unknown. Indeed, why rush to take care of an expensive passenger? In the meantime, there are nine such points in the metropolis, only one of which somehow meets the requirements for bus stations - this is the City Air Terminal. Why its name has not changed so far - one can only guess.

The rich also cry

Russia, which has embarked on the path of state regulation of urban passenger road transport, is not alone in its choice. A similar concept is followed, for example, by Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland and many other countries. The whole difference lies in the degree of correctness of regulation, and also in the fact that state bodies pursue precisely state interests, and not any other interests. In these countries, private passenger carriers are also subject to a competitive system. When carrying out passenger transportation, they are not responsible, since it is fully entrusted to the state.

In Germany, 5.5 thousand companies are engaged in passenger road transport, which annually transport 5.3 million passengers using public transport. Of these, only 1 million, or 20%, are transported by private traders. But this does not prevent them from covering two-thirds of the mileage of transport services.

The basis for the organization of urban and intercity passenger transport in Germany is the law "On Passenger Transport". Access to the passenger transportation market here is possible only after obtaining concessions, which are designed to protect transport operators from intermodal competition. Tariffs for passenger transportation are set only with the permission of the state.

The specific national problem of German passenger road carriers is that for the most part the country is dominated by rail transport, which is subsidized to a much greater extent than road transport.

In Denmark, the lion's share of the volume of urban passenger road transport belongs to the state-owned company Kombas. In Sweden, only five large companies are engaged in urban passenger transport, which control the entire market for scheduled services. And only a few cooperatives still survive in limited regional markets.

In these countries, as well as in Russia, the conduct of medium and small business in the field of passenger transportation is becoming impossible. There is practically no competition, because the number of bus companies is rapidly decreasing - some are acquired by larger enterprises, others are simply forced to leave the market.

The highest prices for public transport tickets in Europe are recorded in Denmark and Sweden. The fact is that the initial price reduction on state routes is very short-term. At first, the state saves on operations, but very quickly the costs of system administration exceed the seemingly saved funds. And after the market adapts to this system, ticket prices rise. Thus, spending has simply shifted from private operators to the public sector. Today, transport companies in Sweden and Denmark are experiencing a financial crisis. Thus, only one out of five Swedish passenger carriers brings profit. The transport authorities of the Danish capital Copenhagen need additional government funding and are therefore forced to reduce the range of the proposed transportation.

In countries with a managed competitive system, the number of passengers on private carriers is declining every year. This is due to the fact that carriers are obliged to comply with the requirements put forward by the state in order to have at least a chance to carry out their activities on a particular route. Thus, vehicles must be equipped with any devices required by the bankruptcy authorities, which in any case will lead to additional costs. Private traders have no incentive to fight for an additional passenger - their service will again lead to even greater costs. “Looking at this issue more closely, it is more economical for us to have as few passengers as possible. In this way, we will save on costs and cleaning,” said Johnny Hansen, managing director of the Danish transport company Arriva.

A very different picture is observed in countries where competition rules the passenger transport market, such as the UK and Finland. In them, responsibility is divided between the state and private operators. In England, the planning, operation and sale of public transport services is carried out under the direction of transport operators. However, they bear all the risks. The role of the state here is limited only by legal risks, especially the rules of access to the market and the provision of the necessary infrastructure.

Most British bus companies provide their customers with a much better service than the state. For example, at Trent Barton, customer service skills are valued far more than their driving skills.

In contrast to states with a competitive regime, the number of passenger carriers in the UK is not only not decreasing, but is increasing. Only in the county of Oxfordshire there are more than forty private traders. In Finland, public transport is mainly in the hands of more than 300 family transport companies.

In England and Finland, private traders are associated with the state in partnerships: carriers provide new buses and qualified drivers - the state improves infrastructure (allocates separate lanes for public transport, provides real-time information, builds more comfortable stops, etc.). Thanks to this, the number of passengers, unlike in Denmark and Sweden, is growing here. Thus, in Brighton, Oxford, Edinburgh and Nottingham the number of passengers will increase annually by 5 percentage points or more.

Transportation "in Finnish"

About 5 million people live in all of Finland, which is approximately 1/3 of the population of the Russian capital alone. About half a million people live in the largest cities of Finland (Helsinki, Tampere).

In 1923, the Bus Transport Association was formed in the country. Today, its members are 350 private bus companies. In the fleet of each of them, there are an average of about fifteen buses. Local operators that are not members of the association belong to the city municipalities. Finland's nationwide route network carries 350 million passengers annually.

The Finnish public transport system is based on the initiative of the operators themselves within the Helsinki area and licenses for regular service outside it. Bus companies in Finland themselves develop routes and schedules based on the needs of passengers. Then they apply for licenses to government agencies and receive licenses if the routes and schedules meet the needs of passengers. Licenses are issued by five regional state bodies and 28 municipalities. The license is still valid for ten years. But after the entry into force of the new EU rules regarding public transport, licenses will be valid for much less time (from five years or less). The bus companies themselves are responsible for the transport services they provide (they may optionally include additional services), as well as for the financing of passenger services. If the route becomes unprofitable, there is a possibility that the license will be terminated.

Outside the Helsinki area, 85% of public transport services are provided by buses. In turn, more than 80% of bus transport services are provided on ticket revenues without government funding.

If the provision of transport services can cause financial damage to bus companies, then they are bought at the expense of state and municipal resources. Last year, the state paid 25 million euros for regional and local bus transport services. Purchased services become the subject of competition according to the so-called network principle: the bus company receives income from ticket sales, and the state compensates it for the difference between income and a critical level of profitability.

As for ticket prices, the Finnish government does not interfere in any way in setting fares - bus companies do. In addition, the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications sets the prices for tickets sold to schoolchildren.

At the regional level, the decision on the cost of tickets for travel in public transport can be made by the municipality (in relation to its area).

A significant difference in the public transport system in Finland is that the cost of a ticket is sometimes only half of its real price. The fact is that subsidies in Finland are paid not to bus companies, but to passengers. Such a system has existed in the country for about 15 years. It is related to taxation: if the state and municipalities pay subsidies to passengers, they do not receive more revenue in the form of taxes. Thanks to this system, the number of public transport passengers in Finland after its implementation increased by 20 - 30%. And this despite the fact that in such a small country there are about 2.5 million private cars. The state finances this system annually in the amount of 11-12 million euros.

Representative of the Finnish Bus Transport Association Esa Mannisenmaki spoke about the unique system of bus terminals, which is not found in any other country. It was developed by the Matkahuolto company, which is the property of Finnish bus operators. It operates stations at the terminals without any subsidies or funding from the government. The company manages 65 bus terminals, 400 agencies, more than 2 thousand employees. This network covers the entire country. Bus terminal services include ticket sales, timetable information, and bus rentals. The main share of profit (50 - 60%) "Matkahuolto" receives from the freight, the rest - from the sale of tickets and timetable information. The company has created a unique ticketing system. Buying a ticket at the bus terminal or using a smart card (Finland, by the way, was a pioneer in the use of credit cards on bus transport), a passenger can use it on a bus of any company throughout the country.

In addition, Finland has a voluntary express bus market association, Express Bus, which is the Finnish alliance for express bus passenger service. It carries out urban and intercity transportation on tourist buses of a unified appearance. Uniform requirements are imposed on the training of the personnel working for them. The number of passengers using this service is growing from year to year. This is despite the fact that the express bus system operates without any government financial intervention.

However, there are problems in the Finnish organization of urban passenger road transport. The country recently passed two tax reforms that reduced the tax on private cars. As a result, the use of personal transport has increased by 5-10%, and the regular bus service, respectively, has decreased by the same percentage. Adding to the problem is that Finnish government investment in public transport is declining and public transport costs are rising rapidly.

In very many Russian cities, the competitive system has played a cruel joke on its creators: it did not stimulate competition on bus routes, but on the contrary, in the able hands of officials, it became an executioner's ax for private carriers.

And now these same officials are saying: you see what the competition showed? Private traders are simply not able to compete with "adult" transport companies ...

Alas, we have already passed this path - whoever wants to, will remember what he led us to. How you do not want to return to the Stone Age of transport developed socialism, but there is no choice. I really want the people on whom the organization of transport work in Russian cities depends to become more closely and more deeply acquainted with the successful experience of foreign colleagues.

It is for this purpose that the Avtopperevozchik magazine, together with the Directorate of the International Road Transport Forum (IAF), conducts a series of practical seminars in European countries. One of them was held in Germany in April this year. The international seminar "Urban Passenger Transport in Germany" was attended by heads of local governments, bus and city electric transport enterprises, vehicle manufacturers and other interested organizations related to urban and intercity and suburban passenger transportation. They visited the Daimler AG bus factory in Mannheim, the RVV municipal transport company in Regensburg, visited the test site in Hockenheim (where they became spectators and even participants in extreme driving on Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses), a production plant automatic checkpoints in Garching, the transport company Sippel GmbH in Frankfurt am Main, the bus and tram transport company SBB in Stuttgart, the transport company ESWE in Wiesbaden and much more.

The city announced a competition for the organization of transportation by minibuses on a new model. All buses will have to comply with the same requirements and are decorated in the same style. The winner will serve two routes: No. 199k and No. 368. This was reported by the press service of the department for competition policy.

The maximum value of the lot is 124 million rubles. The winner for five years will transport citizens on buses of various capacities: from 19 to 85 passengers. At the same time, it is important that the car meets all the requirements and is not older than two years.

Minibuses No. 199k will run from the Skhodnenskaya metro station to the Tax City stop and back. And No. 368 will run from the Rechnoy Vokzal metro station to the Dolgoprudnaya platform. Now regular minibuses operate on these lines.

Recall that in May last year, the Sever-Avto company of the Autoline group won the tender for organizing a pilot route No. 22. The company is purchasing 10 new low-floor buses equipped with Euro-5 engines. The first 9 buses began to run on the route on July 1 this year. A total of 22 such competitions are planned to be announced in 2015.

The owner of the transport company "Trans-way" Vladislav Tolstukhin considers the cost of the proposed contract not high enough to attract carriers. "At one time, on the instructions of the Ministry of Transport, a methodology was developed for calculating the cost of custom transportation. According to this methodology, in order to provide the entire scope of work, it will take twice as much money as indicated in the tender," Tolstukhin said.

Kirill Yankov, chairman of the Passenger Union, on the contrary, believes that the routes have been chosen successfully. "Tushino has good transport accessibility. There are three metro stations there: Tushinskaya, Skhodnenskaya and Planernaya, there is a tram line with a high carrying capacity. In this area, buses of small and medium capacity can be launched," he said.

According to the expert, the transition to the organization of passenger transportation under government contracts is a normal process. "Bus transportation is not a natural monopoly. It is not a subway or a tram. There should be natural competition for the route between carriers. However, the city must ensure that the company that wins the route complies with all transportation parameters: minimum intervals in traffic, bus capacity and and so on," Yankov concluded.

It should be noted that now 69 private carriers operate in Moscow. Control over them is entrusted to the GKU "Organizer of Transportation". At the same time, the operation of uncoordinated city routes, according to the Administrative Code of the city, is punishable by a fine for citizens in the amount of 4 thousand rubles (for repeated violation - 5 thousand), and for legal entities - 50 thousand rubles (for repeated violation - 100 thousand).

On October 14, 2014, a decree of the Moscow government was signed, according to which private transportation will be carried out only by state order. And by the end of the third quarter of 2015, 600 minibuses should remain in the city, and private carriers will have to replace the rest of the rolling stock with buses with a capacity of 40-100 seats. At the same time, all private transport will switch to common city standards, which means that it will be possible to pay with city tickets at approved rates - a single ticket, Troika and 90 minutes.

All rolling stock of private owners will have to comply with the Euro-5 environmental standard. Strict control over the observance of the schedule and route by carriers will also be established.

Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin launched the modernization of urban bus transportation. On December 2, at a meeting of the presidium of the city government, an order was adopted to conclude long-term state contracts for transport services. The deadline for contracts is 2020.

Recall that the experiment on the integration of minibuses into the urban passenger transport system began on September 8. On four routes of "Avtoline" it is possible to use uniform tickets of city passenger transport. The experiment involved 30 machines, each with ticket validators.