Mass transit between Bucharest and Ilfov to halt for lack of authorisation body, as of 31 October

Passenger mass transit between Bucharest and Ilfov will be suspended as from October 31, because there is no authority to regulate the market, the Confederation of Romania's Authorised Transport Operators and Hauliers (COTAR) said Monday. 

"The Confederation of Romania's Authorised Transport Operators and Hauliers want to apologise to the customers who will have to suffer as a result of the emergency measures which the carriers will take in the coming days, but it wants to ask them to understand why this is happening in Romania. Passenger mass transit between Bucharest and places in Ilfov County will be suspended, as from October 31, because there is no authority to regulate this market," says COTAR in a press statement. 

The carriers state that after the dismantling of the Metropolitan Transport Authority, authority over passenger mass transit in the Bucharest-Ilfov areas have been transferred to the Bucharest-Ilfov Inter-community Mass Transit Development Association at the Bucharest City Hall, which has failed to take any decision regarding the award of transport licenses. 

COTAR specialists of this association, once they took over this service, they were required to present the strategy for the award of licenses, a study, so that transport operators prepare their fleet investments in advance. The Bucharest-Ilfov Inter-community Mass Transit Development Association did not take any decision regarding the regulations of the mass transit of passengers between Bucharest and Ilfov County and did not solve the issue of issuing licenses for them. 

According to COTAR, the ordinance issued by Minister Lucian Sova is not in favour of the citizens. The Bucharest-Ilfov Inter-community Mass Transit Development Association, which has taken over the duties, is not competent to manage this area. Moreover, the authorities do not observe the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice in 2017, which allowed for the resumption of assignment for the routes connecting Bucharest to places in Ilfov County, and the 2018 sentence of the Bucharest Tribunal ordering the resumption of the award of licences for the routes connecting the capital city and places in Ilfov. 

"Hoping that the Romanian government takes into account the above mentions, the carriers demand the harmonisation of the national and European legislation, as well as the renewal of the car fleet in a competitive environment, on an equal level of access to the Bucharest-Ilfov passenger mass transit market."