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As has been reported on the site already, on 10th of May, 2013, Mayor of Vilnius Arturas Zuokas and Lithuanian Transport Minister Rimantas Sinkevicius have received a letter from Mr. Alain Flausch, Secretary-General of International Public Transport Association which unites 3,400 member organizations from 92 countries.
The appeal expressed concerns about the intentions to destroy Vilnius trolleybus system and astonishment was expressed, too because of intentions to change big trolleybus system with a few but costly tram lines which will have less opportunities compared to the trolleybus system. Also all the help in upgrading trolleybus system was offered.
In less than two months (sarcasm) the mucinipality of Vilnius city has prepared a response (we are also presenting a formal response from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania).
Response from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania to this letter:
“Dear Artur Perchel,
The Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania acquainted with International Association of Public Transport opinion about trolleybus system in Vilnius and is grateful therefor remarks.
Moreover the Ministry of Transport and communications sustains that trolleybuses are important elements for sustainable urban development as an attractive, affordable and quality-driven mean of urban mobility.
According to the intelligence municipality of Vilnius city actively encourage the use of public transport for daily trips and pursue to secure qualitative and attractive public transport facilities in association with aims of the Directive 2009/33/EU on the promotion of clean and energy- efficient road transport vehicles.Yours sincerely,
Gintarė Zorskaitė
Road Transport and Civil aviation policy department Chief specialist of Road Transport division
Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania, Gedimino ave. 17, Vilnius
A reply from the Vilnius city municipality has been received today (original scan is attached at the end of this entry):
Dear Mr. Alain Flaush,
We appreciate your concern expressed with regard to the future of public Iran spoliation in the city of Vilnius and the proposal to provide assistance in renewing the public transportation fleet of Vilnius.
Please be advised that a draft plan for the optimization of Vilnius public transportation was drawn up pursuant to the Resolution No. 1-1778 of the Vilnius City Municipality Council of 24 November 2010 “Regarding the Approval of the 2010-2020 Vilnius Strategic Plan and the Management and Supervision System of the 2010-2020 Vilnius Strategic Plan”, which, among other public transportation optimization tasks, provides for the revision of the city’s public transportation routes and schedules on the basis of the city’s passenger flow surveys performed in 2012, taking into consideration the newly formed public fast-transportation network.
Once a group of legal entities were selected by open tender procedures, including the Research Institute of Territorial Planning of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, municipal enterprise “Vilniaus planas”, UAB “Urbanistika”, “ASL” and French company SYSTRA SA, prepared and the Vilnius City Municipality Council adopted a resolution No. 1-961 “Regarding the Approval of the Solutions of the Project “Preparation of a Special Plan for the Implementation of New Modes of Transportation in the city of Vilnius” of 19 December 2012, all preconditions for the optimization of Vilnius public transportation network were met. In preparation for the special plan, the operation and trends of the existing transportation system and public transport of the city of Vilnius were taken into consideration, and new modes of public transportation were analysed and proposed, taking into account the proposals and comments made by Vilnius residents, foreign experts and local scientists.
The approved special plan focuses on the reorganization of the trolleybus route network because, unlike bus routes, these lines have a contact and cable network with special support and traction substations. It should be noted that, currently, the average age of the Vilnius trolleybus fleet is more than 18 years, and the majority or traction substations and the contact and cable network system need major repairs. This requires large investments that are not currently planned for in the Vilnius city municipality budget in the near future due to certain practical circumstances.
The first stage of the optimization of public transportation provides for the elimination of economic inefficiencies caused by the duplicalion of new express bus routes by trolleybus routes. The specific plan establishes that, upon the introduction of the new public transportation mode and emergence of modern electric buses, trolleybus transportation should be gradually eliminated and the contact network removed, which spoils the view of the city. The third stage of the optimization of public transportation provides for complete elimination of the trolleybus contact network by implementing new fast-transportation electric bus routes.
Taking into consideration Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles and our plans to replace the existing outdated trolleybus fleet with more innovative electric buses, we would be grateful if the International Public Transport Association could mediate in the allocation of funds from the European Union Structural Fund for the renewal of the public transportation fleet of the city of Vilnius.
Sincerely yours,
Arturas Zuokas
Mayor of the City of Vilnius
A comment from troleibusas.lt is very short – as you can easily see themselves what was written, asked and offered in the letter from UITP and what is the answer, what’s shunned in the answer or where you can simply see lies…
