Every issue related to the population's daily life is under the state’s constant attention. In particular, the public transport system is developing in connection with the growing demand.
In recent years, the city of Tashkent has grown larger. The number of permanent and temporary residents, tourists, and students has increased. If earlier 800-900 thousand passengers used public transport in the city, this figure has now exceeded 1 million 300 thousand. Therefore, problems such as shortages and long bus waiting times have occurred.
On December 13 last year, the Head of State visited bus depot No.18 in Tashkent, where he got acquainted with the state of affairs and instructed to bring new buses and create comfortable conditions for passengers. Based on this, on February 16 this year, a resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to reform the public transport system” was adopted. During the current visit, Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with implementing the assigned tasks.
In April-May, 755 modern buses were delivered to the city of Tashkent. They were put on routes with the largest passenger traffic. As a result, the daily number of buses reached 1400, and 9 additional routes were opened. In the coming days, another 245 buses will be brought.
In particular, bus fleet No. 7 has served 90,000 passengers per day on 18 routes so far. Recently, its fleet was replenished with 67 new cars. Naturally, the capacity of passenger traffic has increased, and the interval of bus traffic has decreased.
Responsible persons reported on the updated Transport General Plan of Tashkent. It was noted that it was developed based on an analysis of the city’s expansion and passenger traffic and includes 167 routes. On 17 of them, the procedure for determining the daily plan was canceled, with this, the routes were transferred to the system of calculations based on the distance traveled. The remaining 150 routes will also be transferred to these systems in June-July through tenders. As a result, the regularity of trips will be ensured, and the quality of service will improve.
Equally important is the qualification of drivers. In this regard, training and retraining of drivers have been launched at the Transport University and other educational centers. The salary of bus drivers has doubled, and more than a thousand drivers have been hired since the beginning of the year.
The Head of State noted the importance of establishing high-quality bus service, instructed on streamlining the fare system, digitalizing traffic management, and improving conditions at bus stops.
“New buses, of course, created additional conditions for passengers”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. – The next task is to reduce traffic jams and ensure the free movement of buses. The ultimate goal is to increase public transport coverage in Tashkent to 2 million passengers.
The President got on the bus and drove along the route with passengers.
