Ufa Residents: 'Pool Money for Bus' Amid Packed Minibus

Ufa residents were impressed by a Ufa woman«s story about minibus route No. 297, which daily fills up with passengers to/from the »8 Marta« residential complex. According to our reader, who daily travels this route, sometimes people even fight for a standing spot. In response, readers of UFA1.RU have again complained about the city»s transport work. We present their opinions.

One of the commenters suggested that for the main part of the city (what it includes — he did not specify) there should be two routes «in the form of a circle and a figure eight». Another route he proposes to make as a circle on the other banks of the Ufa and Belaya rivers. Moreover, the movement should be round-the-clock.

«Every 90 seconds, a bus arrives and picks up passengers. Fire stupid, smart-ass, rude, brawling, and undisciplined drivers. Dispatchers at the appointed minute send buses with drivers and conductors along the route. Entrance through the front door, payment upon entry, exit through the rear doors,» suggested the reader.

It sounds like utopia. But readers say that such a scheme is used in Magnitogorsk. Also, the comment author was reminded that the established 8-hour work schedule for drivers cannot be violated.

According to our reader, previously, another route used to go to the «8 Marta» residential complex, but then it disappeared. One of the users says that the second minibus indeed existed, but it was removed due to unprofitability, even though it was cheaper and went to Bashkir State University (BashGU), to the center of Ufa. Moreover, sometimes the drivers of the two routes would sort out their differences.

«The route was removed and given to Alexeyevka. They didn»t disdain it and ride it perfectly,« said a user.

«Not only are you standing packed like sardines in a crowded Gazelle, but they also drive carelessly — everyone keeps hitting their heads on the roof!» declared another.

According to one of the users, drivers don«t care about passengers, and perhaps about money either.

«The main goal for drivers now is not the customer and revenue, but rather to get from point A to point B. They are indifferent that at each stop they could pick up 10-15 people during rush hour in the morning or evening, but they only take 1-2 people, as there simply is no space in the bus. The rest wait for the next minibus, which again will only fit 1-2 people,» she says.

The lady also noted that she regularly hears drivers complaining about the lack of revenue, and added: there is no money because it was left at the stop. In the end, passengers will go to those who have large buses, «and not tin cans on wheels.»

Another claimed a conspiracy theory: that everything is done so that people deal with each other, hate, and degrade.

One of the readers criticized not the transport, but, suddenly, the residents themselves.

«When buying housing, you should at least foresee the situation a little. If you don»t have your own car — don«t buy just anywhere,» he stated.

«What were these residents thinking when they bought square meters there?» questioned another.

But residents of the same districts, who have their own cars, sometimes stand in terrible traffic jams on the Zaton Bridge (examples one, two, three — and this is only a small part).

«In this way, you can not buy housing anywhere and live in the forest,» stated another in response.

«You can buy housing in normal districts. Or better not to buy at all,» said another of our readers.

«Pool your money and buy yourselves a bus, it would have paid for itself long ago, since you ride there yourselves,» proposed a Ufa resident.

«Zaton residents have always been distinguished by aggressiveness,» notes a user.

Transport problems are called a consequence of the reform that the authorities of Bashkortostan have been conducting for several years. According to one of the readers, it is a revolution, and in it, someone always ends up at a loss.

«And it doesn»t matter that the residents of Ufa ended up at a loss. In Zaton, there used to be many routes to every corner of Ufa. Minibuses arrived every two to three minutes. Now (in the post-revolutionary period) there is a critical shortage of bus transport. Houses are being built, but buses are not increasing,« declared a reader of our site.

Also, suburban routes were touched upon in the comments:

«Previously, from Mashinostroiteley to Okhlebino, it took an hour to get there. Now, until all the dumps in Iglino are shown, you won»t get there. Sometimes we travel for 3 hours!« exclaimed a Ufa woman.

«Well, how without a fight, without it it»s boring,« jokes a townsman.

«There is a splendid proposal: sit at home,» declared another.

Also, there were a couple of questions to the residents — like, why don«t they walk? Possibly, it meant not all the way to Ufa, but to the highway where »Bashavtotrans« stops.

«Otherwise, they bought pedometers for their wrists, but don»t walk,« stated a Ufa resident.