Cars From Other Regions To Be Banned Entry To Minsk

And those, who need to get to the capital, will be imposed additional charges.

A quite controversial, if not to say strange, requirement to pay for the entrance to Minsk for all non-residents have been suggested by a group of Minskers. Activists are discussing the prospect of sending the petition to the Minsk City Executive Committee and the Ministry of Taxes and Duties. The proposal seems to be quite far from the current automobile reality. Nevertheless, the drafters of the appeal have their own arguments, onliner.by writes.

“The introduction of paid entry and stay in Minsk for vehicles with registration numbers of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 regions will help to solve several problems at once, – the petition drafters believe. – Firstly, the number of accidents will be reduced. Most drivers, who come to Minsk, but do not drive in it all the time, behave poorly on the road: they change lanes without using direction indicators, drive with unreasonably low speed on the left lane of the Ring Road and the city's roads, show the lack of driver's ethics. In addition, the driver, who arrives in Minsk, feels dubiously behind the wheel, which creates additional risk of improper behavior on the road. Secondly, the number of free parking spaces in residential areas will be increased. There are at least three vehicles with registration numbers of other regions in practically all the city yards, and they notice that these people do not come to visit someone, they just park for a long time there. Thirdly, the congestion and, as a consequence, the emission of harmful substances into the environment in Minsk will be reduced.”

The Minsk citizens, who want find a broad response among the capital residents, have more arguments:

“The flow of funds to the local budget from different sources will be increased: the owners of taxis, who do not register their cars in Minsk in order to reduce the tax and who work in the capital, will pay an additional fee, the intercept parking will be in demand, the payment of charges will start working. We propose to introduce the following rates: 2 BYN for each calendar day of staying in the capital for cars in personal use, 3 BYN – for commercial vehicles. The increase of the budget funds will allow to upgrade Minsk roads. BelToll system can be used to implement the proposal technically. That is, it’s necessary to set “frames” at all the Minsk entries, write off the payment for the entry and for each calendar day, until the vehicle leaves the city. The transport police can also be used to control the availability of the onboard equipment in the cars and the entry and stay payment.”

With all that, the drafters of the appeal offer not to charge the cars with foreign numbers, as foreign guests contribute to the inflow of funds in the economy of the city.

It should be noted that the regions’ residents took the idea of a paid entry into the capital with indignation:

“We have to counter appeal then. Let the residents of Minsk with the registration number 7, who depart from Minsk and fall under the scope of the registration number 5, also pay ... Just to make it fair, if you travel from Minsk into the woods, to the lake or anywhere else, you have to pay. If you decide to go to the airport, to the village to visit your grandmother – you have to pay. Well, the bottom line is – let the people stay in their regions! And if you decide to call into another region – pay for a day of stay, or travel by bus,” – one of the users commented on the petition.