Klitschko was ‘wished a happy birthday’. There were further protests outside the Kyiv City State Administration over the fare increase

The protesters demanded that the city authorities fulfil the social commitments they had made and keep fares at an acceptable level during the war. They also called on the mayor to immediately consider the appeal from the Public Council attached to the Kyiv City State Administration regarding the increase in fares and the restoration of the fare to 8 hryvnias.

According to the organisation ‘Social Movement’, students and experts joined the protest. The protesters stated that the decision to increase the fare had been taken without proper public consultation or economic justification, and that the new fare would significantly increase transport costs for many Kyiv residents.

During the rally, participants highlighted the discrepancy between the Kyiv City State Administration’s official arguments and the actual level of household incomes. One of the protesters noted that the average wage, which the Kyiv City State Administration had set at 49,000 hryvnias, did not reflect the actual standard of living of the majority of the capital’s residents.

The median wage for Kyiv is 35,000 hryvnias, not 49,000. It is this figure that shows how much a typical Kyiv resident actually earns, the activist pointed out.

So the new fares will take up more than 10 per cent of a person’s salary, even when buying a travel pass.

A spokesperson for the ‘Pryama Diya’ student union, who works as a teacher, said that following the increase in travel fares, she has been forced to consider whether it is worth continuing to work in education, as her salary is increasingly failing to cover her basic living costs.

Another participant in the protest, a student working during the summer, explained that she earns less than 30 hryvnias an hour, so the new fare makes her question whether it is worth continuing in her job.

During the protest, it was also mentioned on several occasions that 19 July marked Vitali Klitschko’s 55th birthday, so the mayor was ‘congratulated’ with songs reflecting on the state of Kyiv during his years in office.

Background

On 16 July, a public hearing was held at the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) regarding an increase in public transport fares in the capital from 8 to 30 hryvnias. Following the hearing, the Public Council attached to the Kyiv City State Administration supported a petition to the mayor demanding that the relevant order be revoked, the previous fare be reinstated, and a new public consultation be held in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

During the hearings, Vitaliy Dudin, an activist with the organisation ‘Social Movement’, stated that the current economic and security situation does not allow for an additional financial burden to be placed on the capital’s residents.

According to him, more than fifty people were killed as a result of Russian shelling in the first week of July alone; therefore, decisions on tariffs must take into account not only economic calculations but also the social situation in the country.

Dudin also presented the results of a comparison with countries in Central and Eastern Europe. He stated that in Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Moldova, a monthly travel pass costs around 2–4 per cent of the minimum wage, whereas in Ukraine, following the increase, its cost will amount to approximately 42 per cent of the minimum wage.

Furthermore, he criticised the Kyiv City State Administration’s (KCSA) arguments regarding the use of the average wage in Kyiv as a benchmark, emphasising that the procedure for setting fares requires the minimum wage to be taken into account, rather than the average income level.

During the public hearings, Iryna Boiko, a representative of the Kyiv City State Administration’s Department of Economics, stated that the economically justified cost of travel is around 64 hryvnias, whilst the set fare of 30 hryvnias is below the actual cost. She also noted that public discussion of the issue had been ongoing for a considerable time.

At the same time, the heads of the municipal enterprises ‘Kyivpastrans’ and ‘Kyiv Metro’ did not take part in the public hearings, and the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, was absent.