865 new urban buses of domestic production of large and medium capacity will run on Tashkent streets in the next three years. The bulk of them will work on gas.
Procurement will be carried out within the framework of the program on renovation of the rolling stock fleet of Toshshahartranskhizmat, as approved by the government of Uzbekistan.
It is planned to purchase two types of buses: large capacity by MAN, which run on gas, and the average capacity by Isuzu. Automotive equipment of bоth brands is assembled at production facilities near Samarkand. 190 buses will be purchased in the current, 285 – in 2018, and 390 – in 2019.
The purchase of large-capacity vehicles will be carried out through the funds of the state budget that are included in annual investment programs, and the average capacity vehicles will be funded by commercial banks, as well as the resources of the leasing companies Asaka-Trans-Leasing, O’zavtosanoat-Leasing, with the follow-up repayment from the private funds of Toshshahartranskhizmat enterprises.
If necessary, commercial banks will be financially supported by the People’s Bank of Uzbekistan, which received the government’s permission to allocate up to 120 billion soums for these purposes at the expense of the accumulative pension system at the refinancing rate of the Central Bank.
Another interesting initiative will be implemented by the bus manufacturer – JV MAN Avto-Uzbekistan, which is working on the opening of maintenance centers for high capacity MAN buses in all fleets in the current year.
The company also intends to take integrated measures to improve the culture of passenger service in the metropolitan buses. On the one hand, it is planned to organize professional development of urban passenger transport drivers within the framework of targeted program within the next three years. Thereby, it is expected that approximately 670 drivers will be trained by the end of 2019, a total 220-225 drivers annually.
On the other hand, Toshshahartranskhizmat Company intends to completely abandon conductor services through the widespread introduction of electronic smart-card payment system, which is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2017. As a result, the human factor will be eliminated.
