Tallinn to Merge Public Transportation Firms (7)

Published: 12.01.2012 10:54

The Tallinn Bus Company (TAK) and the Tallinn Tram- and Trolleybus Company (TTTK) will soon become one.
( Photo: Scanpix/Postimees )

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As a cost-savings measure, the capital's bus company and its tram and trolleybus company will become one entity at the beginning of 2013, the city government has decided.

According to Deputy Mayor Arvo Sarapuu, the change will reduce expenses not only in core managerial and administrative areas, but also in accounting, personnel, and information technology, Postimees reported.

It would also eliminate the duplication of routes and allow for a unified dispatch system, Sarapuu noted.

Sarapuu said the merger would cut costs by nearly 10 million euros per year, making more realistic the possibility that Tallinn could make public transportation free for all residents starting next year - an idea recently floated by the city administration.

The Tallinn City Government is now setting up a temporary committee to push the merger through. Its first report is due in April.

 

Steve Roman

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Comments (7)

  • Foreigner

    12.01.2012 11:24

    This again sounds like newspeak - we need to cut costs to give free public transport... :)

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    12.01.2012 11:55

    It is probably part of the program, yes. But what if people do vote against the bill? I mean, can we assume by default that the majority will vote for ti? At least not according to the comments here in this respect.

  • ameeriklane

    12.01.2012 20:24

    The votes won't mean much. It's basically just a survey and not a bind referendum. Also, they do it not during the normal election time, but in the middle of the year. Most people aren't going to go and vote on this one item. They should add it as a question when the next real election comes along. Of note, this is how they limited alcohol sales to 8pm in Tallinn a few years ago. They used one of these surveys, where only the pensioners bothered to vote, and used that as justification to limit it. It wasn't even proper voting. I voted in it (against the limits) and the "ballot" was a torn quarter piece of A4 paper and there were no private voting booths, nor a secure ballot box. (Since that debacle, the national government stepped in and made the limit 10pm nationwide).

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    13.01.2012 12:19

    Thanks for the information on this, ameeriklane. I even didn't knew that there has been a referendum on the limitation of alcohol sales. Meanwhile a survey is not a general ballot, one would expect minimal procedural standards, however. But if they are not binding, for what having them at all then? In Switzerland, where they cultivated referendums a lot, they are bound to the outcome of a referendum, except for consultative referendums. Fundamentally, there speaks nothing against referendums, that favors political participation of the people, reduction of public life through political parties, political stability, peace and security, specifically in small countries such as Estonia. But you got to do it right and organzied by a neutral instance. Ameerklane, how was this with the alcohol survey? Was that a simple yes/no question ("Are you for limitation of alcohol sales from 8pm - 8am") or was that something else to choose and the question(s) in any way suggestive (e.g. "don't you want less alcohol consumption, so our health care system has not to suffer")?

  • ameeriklane

    13.01.2012 17:11

    The question wording was neutral as I recall. Basically this is a way to justify making a certain decision by saying "But the people wanted it!". In reality, these things rarely get more than 15,000 votes so it represents those with spare time to go and vote (pensioners). This whole plan backfired on them in 2010, when they did one to ask if they should lower the speed limit in-town in Tallinn from 50 to 40. By this time, they had e-voting so lots of drivers logged on and voted against it (i.e. not pensioners). Not liking this, the city government (1-2 days before the voting period ended) sent people out into the shopping malls to try to get more people to vote on it. In the end, the majority was still against it.

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    13.01.2012 18:24

    Sounds like Keskerakond to me. That is not how surveys should be done by any means.

  • James

    17.01.2012 17:11

    "Sarapuu said the merger would cut costs by nearly 10 million euros per year". But how much will it cost to implement?