Bus service between Ukraine and Moldova: permit extended and bus schedules agreed upon

The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Moldova, held a meeting of the Joint Commission on Road Transport. One of the issues discussed was passenger transport by bus.

As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed:

• The term of validity of the permit for opening new routes will be 5 years. Previously, they were valid for 3 years.
• When opening new routes, Ukraine and Moldova will coordinate bus schedules to avoid discrepancies. Currently, there are situations where carriers submit different schedules to different countries. In fact, this is a case of document manipulation.
• On national regulation in terms of monitoring the implementation of regular routes and the algorithm for closing routes that are not being implemented.
• Starting in October of this year (on a monthly basis), in order to update the regular network, the Ministry of Development will inform the Moldovan side about the implementation of regular routes by Moldovan carriers based on information from the eCherga system. In the future, decisions will be made on closing routes that are not being operated.

The parties also verified international routes between the countries. As a result, seven routes were identified that have Ukrainian permits but have not been verified by the Moldovan side. The relevant routes can be viewed in the attachment.

By August 27, carriers listed in the relevant document must send scanned copies of the original permits for regular routes issued by the Moldovan competent authority to the Ministry's email address miu@mtu.gov.ua and present the originals of such permits to the Ministry of Development. Otherwise, the relevant routes will also be closed.