GPS in capital’s minibuses

Chisinau’s public minibuses may be equipped with GPS. The proposal belongs to Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca. He invited a private company to make a presentation on the monitoring system at the City Hall, Info-Prim Neo reports. Company’s representative Victor Tabuci said that taxi companies widely use GPS. This service allows keeping track of the drivers’ route, monitoring their speed, knowing whether they parked regularly or not, or how many minibuses are on the route, etc. Victor Tabuci added that his company could provide daily reports to the Public Transport and Road Division, listing all the recorded irregularities. The information can be presented separately for each route, each administrator, and each driver. Equipping minibuses with GPS will require a monthly fee. According to the representative, an alarm button could also be installed in each minibus. In case of accidents, robberies or other emergencies, the company’s mobile division could intervene in time. Victor Tabuci thinks that GPS systems would be useful even for route administrators, who would be able to keep an eye on their drivers. The Mayor considers that such devices should be installed in every public transport unit and in municipal divisions’, and companies’, vehicles. According to Chirtoaca, local authorities could organize the tender and route administrators could install the systems. He requested the transport Division to come up with an amendment to the Traffic Code, so that drivers may be penalized based on the monitoring reports. During the same City Hall meeting on Monday, June 25, municipal police chief Silviu Musuc informed that two road accidents involving minibuses had taken place the previous week. One of the drivers lacked the three-year-minimum of experience required for driving a public minibus. The driver didn’t pass the medical inspection, nor did his vehicle pass the technical inspection. The police notified the Licensing Chamber to withdraw the administrator’s license. The minibus circulated on route 115.