For better control of payment cards, as well as the safety of passengers, the construction of pay tolls on 8 tram stations will start soon in Sarajevo. The project was initiated by the Prime Minister of the Canton Sarajevo Elmedin Konakovic, and the construction will be financed by private companies in exchange for advertising space on these stations, as confirmed by Avdo Vatric, CEO of KJKP GRAS.
It is a system of pay tolls or the so called tripods that already exist on the tram stations in Ilidza and Stup. As of GRAS Avdo Vatric emphasized, the goal is to improve the system of payment cards, but also passenger safety by introducing video surveillance on the tram stops.
This is a project of controlled charge of passengers at tram stations. Currently eight stations are included for which the Ministry of Transportation of the Sarajevo Canton provided 360,000 BAM from the budget. Tripods, i.e. tolls, will be placed on Otoka station towards Ilidža, on both Dolac-Malta stations, Socijalno and Pofalići, and the station near the Technical School towards Ilidza. Firstly, it would be worked on the Otoka station, since the inflow of passengers is the highest there. The construction works will begin when the tender is carried out and the contractor is chosen, and since the end of the year is close, most probably it will be transferred to the upcoming year,” Vatric explained and added that except 8 pay tolls, video cameras and canopies would be built as well.
According to Vatric, everybody wins with this project – both GRAS and the passengers. What GRAS aims at is to increase the payment of services and decrease the number of passengers who are trying to ride use trams without adequate tram ticket.
“This way the passengers would have to have a ticket, because otherwise they would not be able to enter the station and vehicle. In return, the passengers would get security, because the stations would be covered with video surveillance, incidents would be prevented, and jams when entering and exiting the vehicles would be reduced. In Gras, we are hoping for significant financial income, which currently cannot be accomplished since the passengers avoid buying tickets,” said Vatric.
It should be also noted that 2 years ago, there was public tender for the construction of pay tolls in 8 tram stations, where only one bidder appeared, but with a very high price, for which the Government of CS, Ministry of Transportation and GRAS did not have enough resources, which is why the tender was canceled.
(Source: S. H./Klix.ba)
