New rules for using the eQueue system have been approved

The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine has announced new border crossing rules for buses, which will come into effect after technical improvements to the system. 

The updates will primarily concern the rules for using the slot queue. 

"The updates will apply to those checkpoints where carriers register for a time slot to cross the border. Currently, there are 23 such checkpoints out of 29. Gradually, the slot system will be scaled up to all checkpoints," the ministry said.

As before, carriers will be able to reserve a place in the queue for a regular flight 30 days in advance. Reservations can only be made for the time specified in the official permit for a regular route (+2 hours before the time specified in the official permit). 

• New rule for reserving a place in the queue. 

If, 72 hours before crossing the border, the carrier has not reserved a slot for a regular route, this place becomes available for registration by an irregular carrier. Thus, “non-regular” carriers will start to see available slots earlier. 

If there is no regular route for a time slot at all, all carriers will see it for registration 30 days in advance.

• New rule for “short” routes (up to 400 km). 

One bus will be able to book as many slots as the number of crossings allowed per day. This is because such routes usually involve several border crossings per day and therefore must be able to operate such flights. 

• New rule for regular routes – guaranteeing “slots”. 

If a carrier consistently performs its regular flights, a time slot for registration will be reserved for each such flight. That is, the carrier will be assigned a time slot for crossing the border for its regular route. This will allow the carrier to know in advance that it will be able to register at its appointed time. 

If flights are not performed and there were fewer than two flights during the month, the guarantee is lost. This refers specifically to the loss of the guarantee for the route that was not performed. To this end, the performance of regular routes by carriers will be reviewed each month in the eQueue system. 

Other rules remain in force as before:

• Driver or vehicle replacement is available.
• One route permit (regular or irregular) allows only one bus to cross the border.
• The presence of equal carriers does not allow all three to register for a trip at the same time under the same permit. One permit = one carrier and one bus. 
• Cancellation of a place in the queue at the user's request and automatically by the eQueue system. The latter is possible in case of providing false information about the bus, driver, permits, or the checkpoint that is planned to be crossed. 

We will provide additional information about the launch of the updated functionality, the ministry adds.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)