Increase in fares hits Grozny residents' budgets

The increase in the price of travel in minibuses by 10 rubles has become very noticeable for pensioners and low-income villagers who travel to Grozny. At the same time, public transport runs irregularly and is almost always overcrowded, local residents said.

"Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote that the Chechen Ministry of Transport and Communications raised the price of travel in minibuses with an unregulated tariff in Grozny by 10 rubles, to 43 rubles. Social network users considered the prices too high.

Tumisha, a resident of the Oktyabrsky District of Grozny, works as a seamstress in a sewing workshop on the territory of the Berkat market.

“When my husband was alive, we had no problems with transportation: he drove our daughters, who were students, one to university, the other to college, and me to my work, but he died in the spring. In order for me to get to work on time, and for the girls to get to classes, we need to have an extra half hour in reserve: the minibuses from our area do not run on schedule, and therefore they are overcrowded, you can’t get on right away,” she told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

According to Tumisha, there are many problems with public transportation in Grozny: the minibuses do not run on schedule, the interiors are dirty, so she does not consider the increase in fare justified.

“It used to be 33 rubles, and now it’s 43. It turns out that our family will spend 260 rubles a day on travel, and more than five thousand rubles a month on transportation costs alone. "And utility prices are rising, how can we live on?" the woman from Grozny is indignant.

In the sewing workshop where Tumisha works, she has to fulfill small orders: shorten a skirt, sew on buttons, sew in a zipper. "It's a pittance - sometimes you only earn enough to buy groceries and get home on a minibus, which will be overcrowded, just like in the morning. You'll have to stand the whole way," the woman complained.

Umidat and her husband Baimurat live in the Berezka microdistrict of the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny. They are pensioners, their children and their families have been living abroad for a long time. "Everything is fine there, they invite us to come, my daughter came and tried to persuade us to go. I would agree, but my husband doesn't want to at all," Umidat said.

The pensioners are not alone, as Baimurat's relatives live nearby, in the village of Katayama. "They will always help if anything happens, but we try not to burden our relatives with our problems. And we go to the doctors ourselves if necessary," the woman noted.

However, Baimurat recently had to postpone visits to the dentist - although treatment and prosthetics are free for him, the cost of regular trips turned out to be high.

"The fare has increased, one visit to the doctor will cost us 86 rubles. Previously, a neighboring guy provided services to us, he was always ready to take us where we needed to go, he even took my husband to his ancestral village, in Elistanzhi, to the grave of his parents. But he built a house in Staraya Sunzha, got married, and he has no time for us now,” Umidat explained.

The couple came to the conclusion that they would have to go to the dentist’s office in Zavodskoy District many times and on two minibuses, meaning that the cost of the trip would double. “And we have a list of medications that both of us need to take regularly, and which are also growing in price. Everything is growing in price, except for the pension,” the pensioner added.

Maryam’s family from the village of Zandak in the Nozhai-Yurt District has four children, three of whom are students: her son is studying at a college in Gudermes, and her daughters are studying at a pedagogical institute in Grozny. The father of the family worked as a driver for a construction company in Khasavyurt, but the company ceased to exist, so now the man is looking for a new job.

“My son is studying at a college, but he manages to work as a loader and a courier. "I bought myself and my sisters new phones, and gave them presents on the eve of the start of the school year," Maryam said.

The woman herself works as a primary school teacher in one of the schools in the village of Zandak. "The school year has just begun, and for us, the news of the increase in prices for travel on minibuses came as a bolt from the blue. For us, villagers, such a price increase has a strong impact on the family budget. Maybe for those who live in Grozny, a 10-ruble increase in the cost of travel is not so scary, especially if you have a job, but we already live on the edge of poverty, and this increase is pushing us down into poverty," the woman was indignant.

According to Maryam, if earlier a ride on a minibus from Nozhai-Yurt to Grozny cost 200 rubles, now it has risen to 250. A ride to Gudermes cost 150 rubles, now it is 200.

“Our family does not have the notorious “financial cushion”, we try to pay for utilities, electricity and gas on time. Children grow up, mature, they need a lot of things so that they do not feel deprived. Our family is the same as a thousand of my fellow villagers, we live by our own labor. We want those officials who make decisions about raising prices for certain services to think about the “average” resident of Chechnya. For officials, 10-50 rubles is only an insignificant percentage. "For us, ordinary people, this is hard-earned money," Maryam concluded.

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.