Consumer protection authority suspends part of Bucharest's public transport fleet on safety grounds

Romania’s National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) has temporarily withdrawn from circulation more than 80 vehicles belonging to Bucharest’s public transport company STB, for safety issues and other irregularities. Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan accused ANPC of sabotage and claimed that the institution was working on the orders of his opponents from the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

ANPC’s inspectors ruled the sanctions against STB on Monday, May 9, after following up on a control carried out in March this year. The control unit inspected STB’s buses, trolleybuses, and trams, as well as some of the buildings in the company’s administration, and discovered a whole host of issues that had not been resolved.

“Forty days ago, we carried out an inspection of STB depots and at that time we talked with the management of the company about certain measures to be taken in the short term, such as the state of cleanliness and hygiene of the vehicles, which were in an advanced state of filth, and we also started a conversation about medium and long-term measures. Unfortunately, nothing has been done in the meantime, besides the addition of a few mop heads and some new brooms,” said the head of the ANPC, Horia Constantinescu, in apress conference on the matter.

According to the ANPC, as many as 85 trams are not equipped with access ramps, making them inaccessible to passengers with disabilities.

Additionally, many vehicles showed serious signs of wear and tear, as well as a lack of proper hygiene and maintenance. Aboard the vehicles, the inspectors noted the following: interiors were extremely dirty, featuring seats and accessories such as support bars and handles coated in grime; metal fixtures were rusty; seats were damaged and torn, floors had missing portions of linoleum or mismatched bits that had been attached haphazardly; windows were blurry with dirt and some were cracked or broken; doors didn’t close fully; ventilation systems were running inefficiently and filled with dust; screws were coming loose; elements that were supposed to be there were missing (including ones essential for passenger safety), and the lighting system was in multiple cases only partially functional.

The buildings that the inspection unit visited were in the same condition of disrepair, with damaged walls, floors, and ceilings, non-functional access routes, and unsanitary cleaning stations. Issues around cleanliness were raised multiple times, even with regards to the materials used to keep the vehicles and buildings clean, which were old and dirty themselves and therefore completely ineffective.