The State Duma proposed to limit the service life of public transport

In Russia, it has been proposed to set a federal service life limit for urban and suburban public transport. With such an initiative, a group of deputies of the New People faction appealed to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Andrey Nikitin, TASS reported on October 1.

Parliamentarians consider it necessary to introduce the so-called "retirement age" of public transport, after which their operation on regular routes will cease. It was estimated at 10 years for buses, 15 years for trolleybuses and 25 years for trams. Such a measure will rejuvenate the transport fleet, increase the level of transportation safety and passenger comfort, and regional authorities and carriers will be able to effectively plan purchases and attract preferential financing, they believe.

Back in 2020, the Ministry of Transport prepared amendments to the law "On the organization of regular transportation", which introduces the concept of "vehicle service life". The industry supported the initiative, but it was not accepted, and now the operation of vehicles with expired service life is not prohibited, the deputies noted.

"As a result, cars older than 30 years old continue to operate in some cities, and the 7-10 year norm remains only a non-binding guideline. The aging of the fleet leads to increased operating costs, reduces safety and regularity of transportation, and worn—out equipment leads to flight cancellations and reduced passenger comfort," the authors of the initiative said.

Old age is not a joy: what will the new recycling rates lead to?

The share of older cars is growing in the Russian used car market

Earlier, on September 25, it was reported that in Russia, the production of buses with a maximum weight of less than 5 tons decreased by 35.1% in August and amounted to 1.2 thousand units. According to Rosstat, in eight months, production decreased by 28.4% (to 10.2 thousand). In the segment of buses weighing more than 5 tons, production for the month amounted to 693 units (-21.9%), since the beginning of the year — 6.1 thousand units (-37.1%).

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.