On Monday, September 17, a meeting between the authorities of Bolesławiec municipality and residents of several municipal villages took place at the People’s House in Dobra. Until recently—or, more precisely, until the end of June this year—they could travel to their villages on buses operated by the Bolesławiec Municipal Transport Company.
The problem arose when the city administration in the City of Ceramics introduced free public transport, and the municipal company’s vehicles stopped running to villages in Bolesławiec municipality.
Mayor Andrzej Dutkowski explained that the introduction of free public transport in Bolesławiec had already been discussed last year. Even then, anticipating that it would cause transport difficulties in the so-called rural municipality, municipal officials met with local carriers as well as representatives of the Municipal Transport Company.
The head of Bolesławiec municipality stressed several times that he had asked MZK president Andrzej Jagiera whether transport could continue to operate under the previous arrangements. The municipal leader noted that the MZK president had replied that this option was not possible at all, because the Bolesławiec project had been designed so that transport would be free and operate only within the administrative boundaries of Bolesławiec.
Andrzej Dutkowski also pointed out to residents that, unlike Mayor Piotr Roman, he does not have a municipal transport company at his disposal.
He explained: “It is not that the mayor did not want to provide the money. Nor is it that he could not reach an agreement with MZK.”
What are the biggest transport problems?
Officials emphasized that there were many services to Dobra. Residents gathered at the People’s House countered that the issue was not the number of services, but the fact that the carriers:
- do not arrive on time (as a result, children are late for school)
- their vehicles are overcrowded
- have outdated fleets (this concerns, among others, the county-owned PKS company)
- there are no low-floor buses, which is particularly troublesome for people with disabilities and mothers with small children.
Residents repeatedly stressed that they did not want free transport. They only wanted it to operate under the same arrangements as before the summer holidays. They argued that a large proportion of them work in Bolesławiec and most often spend their money in the city by shopping there.
The floor was taken by Urszula Burdukiewicz from Dobra, who prepared a petition signed by approximately 1,200 people and submitted, among others, to the mayor of the City of Ceramics and the head of MZK. The document states:
There is a way out of this difficult situation and a solution to the problem through a so-called municipal intergovernmental agreement.
[…] Such a municipal agreement concerning, for example, municipal transport is concluded between the urban municipality and the rural municipality—that is, between the mayor and the wójt. It works as follows: the city includes us in the EU program, provides MZK transport as before, does not charge passengers for rides because that is supposedly a condition of the project, while the municipal wójt pays a fee into the city office’s coffers for vehicle rental, fuel and bus depreciation.
The resident of Dobra added that such an agreement between the two Bolesławiec municipalities operated at the beginning of the 1990s. She also said that residents of the rural municipality had learned from MZK that providing municipal transport would cost approximately PLN 1 million annually.
She added: “One would like to conclude by saying: Mr. Mayor, get to work! The next move is yours.”
Other arguments were also raised, including that a new community center was being built in the municipality and would cost PLN 2 million. After all, residents need only one million for transport.
The mayor appealed to those present to give him time to solve the problem comprehensively. He said it was possible, but not immediately. Pressed by residents, he said: next year.
The discussion was joined by Roman Jaworski, deputy mayor of Bolesławiec municipality. He once again stressed that the municipal authorities had repeatedly asked MZK whether transport could operate under the previous arrangements. He said the municipal company had continually repeated that such an option was out of the question.
The deputy head of Bolesławiec municipality also raised legal issues. He noted that the local government was bound by public procurement law and that the municipality could not simply move money from one pocket to another, because it had to initiate the appropriate procedures.
He mentioned that it was not the mayor who had provided residents with MZK buses, nor was it he who had taken them away. Andrzej Dutkowski added that he wanted to resolve the passenger transport problem in a way that would ensure no resident of Bolesławiec municipality felt “transport-excluded.”
In a conversation with the istotne.pl portal, Roman Jaworski assured that the problem was complex and could not be solved within a month. If anyone claimed otherwise, he said, it was nothing more than election sausage.
Officials have several ideas for breaking the deadlock, including creating a municipal transport company. However, putting any of these ideas into practice will take time.
A light at the end of the tunnel?
At the meeting, municipal officials committed to trying to arrange a meeting with Mayor Piotr Roman aimed at resolving the transport impasse in Bolesławiec municipality.
We will certainly return to this matter.