Due to the fact that half of the public transportation buses failed to operate recently, the public had to walk to work and arrive late, causing much frustration. The routine of the city was disrupted for two days.
More than a thousand private and capital city buses run on 77 routes. But private bus operators held a strike and 37 routes were not available.
To find out who is responsible, the media pecked at Smart Bus program executors, Capital City Public Transportation Authority, private bus companies, and Ulaanbaatar Smart Card LLC. Private companies complained that they are not able to cover costs with income, and that their payments aren’t being transferred on time. It was confirmed that the public transportation income is distributed to companies on a daily basis through Ulaanbaatar Smart Card’s Trade and Development Bank account. Capital city authorities claimed that 85 percent of the monthly compensation, 1.5 billion MNT, has been given out from its budget.
Ulaanbaatar Mayor E.Bat-Uul issued to have public transportation companies investigated for causing damage to residents by striking after their payments had been made. After two days of arguments between the parties, they agreed to reevaluate the gap in hourly cost estimation and renegotiate, which ended the strike.
The real reason for the halt of the program, which started three months ago, is not just the failure to transfer payments and wages. It is the byproduct of the view that “state property is nobody’s property”, which allowed spending without research and estimations though public administration and public funds.
When funding becomes smart
Parliament approved Ulaanbaatar’s development strategy through to 2030 two years ago. Through this plan, public transportation structural changes were made. Zorchigch Teevriin Negtgel was formed after merging the capital city’s Avtobus-1, Avtobus-2 and Tsahilgaan Teever companies on October 1, 2014. When this merge occurred, 30 percent of public transportation was owned by the state and provinces, and 70 percent was attributed to private companies. One year later, the beginning of this month, the ratio of attribution has switched places.
Three months ago, all public transportation buses in the capital city were installed with the smart card system, which allowed the precise calculation of public transportation costs and income, and an opportunity for accurate planning by monitoring passengers on each bus, their type, their destination, transit, and frequency of use.
Public transportation passengers are classified into four categories: standard, police, student and elderly. As compensations for the fees of passengers, with the exception of the standard fare, related ministries used to transfer 53 billion MNT from their budget in one go. The above mentioned conflict and halt occurred because starting 2015, the capital city was made responsible for the compensation of bus companies.
To make compensation payments more realistic, the Capital City Transportation Authority gave two free rides per day to 115 thousand elderly and disabled residents, who had to register at the Capital City Welfare Office in person.
More than 100,000 students are being given free two-way travel rights from home to school, and back, with bus passes on weekdays. The rights were given on the basis of agreements between schools and the Capital City Education Office. When compensations are calculated in connection with actual use, it is far lower than the previously outlined amounts. The capital city had paid two billion MNT in September in compensation, which is almost twice as low as previous years. This saving presents the opportunity to invest more into the transportation sector.
Previously, the compensation was calculated on the notion that the elderly, the disabled and students would travel by bus twice a day, which was beneficial for bus companies. But now public transportation companies are not able to cover even fixed costs when the cost and income of every hour and number of passengers is calculated precisely.
These companies have been unable to give wages to their employees in recent months, as service income has not been issued on time, with accuracy. Many companies have had to take out loans to buy fuel and their financial situation has been worsening, which in turn, pushed them to strike.
Aside from this, around a hundred buses will go out of commission due to old age, which will prompt companies to renew their buses. There are around 20 public transportation companies, but the ones with the “youngest” buses, best services, and most profitability will be here to stay. The capital city is interested in cooperating with fewer companies. In general, public and private companies need to work alongside, and compete to bring increased output.
Tallinn, capital of Estonia, made public transportation free. Passengers only have to swipe their cards upon boarding and leaving. They created this solution as bus tickets didn’t cover a third of the cost, used to classify passengers like Mongolia, and monitoring and compensation was too costly.
Public transportation to become smart on its own
Currently there are criticisms that the tendering process was unfair and the system that was introduced is too costly. Related monitoring organisations should investigate the matter and report to the public. The introduction of the Smart Card system was inevitable, as there was a need to make the capital city public transportation services more sophisticated, reachable, scheduled, with appropriate routes, comfortable and safe.
To make the capital city public transportation better and gainful, before anything else, the previously introduced Smart Card needs to be used in its entirety, central monitoring systems needs to work at full capacity, and the transportation network needs to be developed through the information base that is collected from the Smart Card system.
Public transportation capacity, route distance, and hourly load needs to be made flexible and buses need to have lighted destination signs. High standards needs to be established for buses, just like planes. Bus commissioning should be determined by its age and mileage. Buses that went out of commission in South Korea after eight years of use and with over 600,000 km mileage, are fixed and painted to be operated for another four years in Mongolia, where there are no limits. This in turn increases air pollution, and negatively impacts on the comfort and safety of passengers.
Bus numbers, routes and schedules needs to be available at each bus stop. Smart Cards need to be available close to bus stops for foreign and domestic tourists. Nightly buses need longer routes and increased tariff. Free riders need to be penalised, and those who forgot or left their bus passes can have high penalties that can be returned after they find their cards. The Smart Cards need to be used fully, and there is an opportunity to make it possible for the cards to purchase products and services other than a bus fare. If the Smart Cards can be installed on smartphones, that would make things even more simple.
If public transportation is reliable, timely, comfortable and environmentally friendly, residents will choose buses over cars, which will decrease traffic load and reduce air pollution. Larger stations need to have services that ensure comfort of passengers, such as cafes and stores.
Due to the fact that half of the public transportation buses failed to operate recently, the public had to walk to work and arrive late, causing much frustration. The routine of the city was disrupted for two days.
More than a thousand private and capital city buses run on 77 routes. But private bus operators held a strike and 37 routes were not available.
To find out who is responsible, the media pecked at Smart Bus program executors, Capital City Public Transportation Authority, private bus companies, and Ulaanbaatar Smart Card LLC. Private companies complained that they are not able to cover costs with income, and that their payments aren’t being transferred on time. It was confirmed that the public transportation income is distributed to companies on a daily basis through Ulaanbaatar Smart Card’s Trade and Development Bank account. Capital city authorities claimed that 85 percent of the monthly compensation, 1.5 billion MNT, has been given out from its budget.
Ulaanbaatar Mayor E.Bat-Uul issued to have public transportation companies investigated for causing damage to residents by striking after their payments had been made. After two days of arguments between the parties, they agreed to reevaluate the gap in hourly cost estimation and renegotiate, which ended the strike.
The real reason for the halt of the program, which started three months ago, is not just the failure to transfer payments and wages. It is the byproduct of the view that “state property is nobody’s property”, which allowed spending without research and estimations though public administration and public funds.
When funding becomes smart
Parliament approved Ulaanbaatar’s development strategy through to 2030 two years ago. Through this plan, public transportation structural changes were made. Zorchigch Teevriin Negtgel was formed after merging the capital city’s Avtobus-1, Avtobus-2 and Tsahilgaan Teever companies on October 1, 2014. When this merge occurred, 30 percent of public transportation was owned by the state and provinces, and 70 percent was attributed to private companies. One year later, the beginning of this month, the ratio of attribution has switched places.
Three months ago, all public transportation buses in the capital city were installed with the smart card system, which allowed the precise calculation of public transportation costs and income, and an opportunity for accurate planning by monitoring passengers on each bus, their type, their destination, transit, and frequency of use.
Public transportation passengers are classified into four categories: standard, police, student and elderly. As compensations for the fees of passengers, with the exception of the standard fare, related ministries used to transfer 53 billion MNT from their budget in one go. The above mentioned conflict and halt occurred because starting 2015, the capital city was made responsible for the compensation of bus companies.
To make compensation payments more realistic, the Capital City Transportation Authority gave two free rides per day to 115 thousand elderly and disabled residents, who had to register at the Capital City Welfare Office in person.
More than 100,000 students are being given free two-way travel rights from home to school, and back, with bus passes on weekdays. The rights were given on the basis of agreements between schools and the Capital City Education Office. When compensations are calculated in connection with actual use, it is far lower than the previously outlined amounts. The capital city had paid two billion MNT in September in compensation, which is almost twice as low as previous years. This saving presents the opportunity to invest more into the transportation sector.
Previously, the compensation was calculated on the notion that the elderly, the disabled and students would travel by bus twice a day, which was beneficial for bus companies. But now public transportation companies are not able to cover even fixed costs when the cost and income of every hour and number of passengers is calculated precisely.
These companies have been unable to give wages to their employees in recent months, as service income has not been issued on time, with accuracy. Many companies have had to take out loans to buy fuel and their financial situation has been worsening, which in turn, pushed them to strike.
Aside from this, around a hundred buses will go out of commission due to old age, which will prompt companies to renew their buses. There are around 20 public transportation companies, but the ones with the “youngest” buses, best services, and most profitability will be here to stay. The capital city is interested in cooperating with fewer companies. In general, public and private companies need to work alongside, and compete to bring increased output.
Tallinn, capital of Estonia, made public transportation free. Passengers only have to swipe their cards upon boarding and leaving. They created this solution as bus tickets didn’t cover a third of the cost, used to classify passengers like Mongolia, and monitoring and compensation was too costly.
Public transportation to become smart on its own
Currently there are criticisms that the tendering process was unfair and the system that was introduced is too costly. Related monitoring organisations should investigate the matter and report to the public. The introduction of the Smart Card system was inevitable, as there was a need to make the capital city public transportation services more sophisticated, reachable, scheduled, with appropriate routes, comfortable and safe.
To make the capital city public transportation better and gainful, before anything else, the previously introduced Smart Card needs to be used in its entirety, central monitoring systems needs to work at full capacity, and the transportation network needs to be developed through the information base that is collected from the Smart Card system.
Public transportation capacity, route distance, and hourly load needs to be made flexible and buses need to have lighted destination signs. High standards needs to be established for buses, just like planes. Bus commissioning should be determined by its age and mileage. Buses that went out of commission in South Korea after eight years of use and with over 600,000 km mileage, are fixed and painted to be operated for another four years in Mongolia, where there are no limits. This in turn increases air pollution, and negatively impacts on the comfort and safety of passengers.
Bus numbers, routes and schedules needs to be available at each bus stop. Smart Cards need to be available close to bus stops for foreign and domestic tourists. Nightly buses need longer routes and increased tariff. Free riders need to be penalised, and those who forgot or left their bus passes can have high penalties that can be returned after they find their cards. The Smart Cards need to be used fully, and there is an opportunity to make it possible for the cards to purchase products and services other than a bus fare. If the Smart Cards can be installed on smartphones, that would make things even more simple.
If public transportation is reliable, timely, comfortable and environmentally friendly, residents will choose buses over cars, which will decrease traffic load and reduce air pollution. Larger stations need to have services that ensure comfort of passengers, such as cafes and stores.