Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov rejected the request of the city transport committee to increase public transport fares in 2024. The press service of the St. Petersburg administration reported this to RosBalt news agency.
Let us recall that this year, when planning the budget, the St. Petersburg government considered the issue of indexing tariffs for transport services in the amount of 4.95%. In this case, the cost of travel, for example, according to the guest tariff in 2024 would increase by 3 rubles: in the metro – from 70 to 73 rubles, in ground public transport – from 65 to 68 rubles, and a monthly single ticket, which includes travel by tram, trolleybus, bus and metro would rise in price from 3,665 to 3,846 rubles.
According to calculations by the Tariff Committee, among the total expenses of one city resident for housing, utilities and transport services, the share of the latter is almost 50%.
However, in order to reduce the financial burden on St. Petersburg residents, the governor decided that the cost of travel in the metro and surface public transport in 2024 will not change. According to the Transport Committee, this will allow St. Petersburg residents to save more than 2 billion rubles.
As the press service of the St. Petersburg administration notes, the city’s tariff policy remains socially oriented and will maintain the minimum fare for schoolchildren, students and pensioners, whose share of trips on public transport is about 40%. A wide range of discounted travel options will continue to be available for residents of St. Petersburg.
In addition, according to the decision of Alexander Beglov, the cost of traveling on suburban electric trains next year will also not change.
The difference between the fare paid by St. Petersburg residents and the actual costs of transport organizations will be compensated by the city. According to the draft budget of St. Petersburg for 2024, as well as the planning period of 2025 and 2026, the annual increase in income in the next three years should be 7-8%. At the same time, a large role in the development of St. Petersburg is given to transport infrastructure – 48 billion rubles are planned to be spent on it in 2024. In particular, work will continue on the latitudinal highway of the Vitebsk interchange, and construction of the Bolshoi Smolensky Bridge will also begin. It is planned to spend 11 billion rubles annually on bringing roads into proper condition. Another 93 billion rubles have been allocated for the construction of the metro in the next three years.
Also in 2024, it was decided to leave unchanged the fee for using the paid parking zone, the maximum amounts of wholesale and retail markups on actual selling prices for vital and essential medicines, and the maximum wholesale markups on prices for medical devices implanted into the human body during the provision of medical care. , as well as the size of maximum markups on products sold by public catering organizations in educational institutions.
Note that last week the Russian government set limits for increasing utility tariffs. As a result, utility bills could rise by more than 20% next year in some cities. However, the final tariff levels are approved by regional governments. Changes in utility tariffs are expected no earlier than July 1, 2024.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
