Workers City Transport Company (GSP) "Belgrade" gathered on Thursday at 10 a.m. in front of the "Dorćol" facility at Kneginje Ljubice Street 29, from where they headed towards Trg Republike where they blocked traffic for 30 minutes as a warning sign because their demands to stop the abolition of trolleybuses in public transport and purchasing new vehicles.
The workers were previously joined by students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, who reached the Dorćol plant on foot, in order to support them in today's protest.
The students made an improvised pump, they carry a mock-up of a trolley bus with the words "General Strike", banners with the inscriptions "Machinists against machinery" and shout "Students with workers" and "Pump!", "We don't give trolls".
The messages "Jail Hello", "Waiting for the metro", "I say together and think together" and "Protest of GSP workers" were also highlighted.
The promenade in front of the students' procession is "Next stop: strike", and the GSP workers' "Trolleys are not a problem, they are the heroes of the city".
What are the workers looking for?
The demands of the workers are the suspension of the process of abolishing trolleybuses, a guarantee that Depo Dorćol will not be handed over to a private person, the purchase of one hundred new modern trolleybuses, as well as a review of the contract by which lines 100, 300, 400 and 700 were taken away from GSP.
The previous workers' protest, when demands were submitted to the city administration, was held on February 5.
Ivan Banković from the union "Centar" then stated that by the agreement of the workers, the mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Šapić, the president of the city assembly Nikola Nikodijević and the secretary of the Secretariat for Public Transport Radovan Kremić as competent authorities have 14 days to respond to the demands of the workers.
Photo: Marko Dragoslavić/FoNetGSP workers' protest
Tens of millions of euros invested
Banković previously pointed out to "Vreme" that tens of millions of euros have been invested in the trolleybus infrastructure over the past twenty years and that "the least problem" is to acquire new vehicles after so much investment.
"Trolleybuses are not an advanced technology at all, the only problem with that sub-system of urban transport that we have are vehicles, and that is the cheapest part of trolleybus transport," Banković said.
He stated that in Belgrade, in the last twenty years, several tens of millions of euros have been invested in the development of trolleybus infrastructure, that is, in rectification stations, contact network, wires, poles and technological and technical capacities for maintenance.
He assessed that the "least problem" is to acquire vehicles after investing so much money from the City of Belgrade's budget in the trolleybus infrastructure, especially because trolleybuses have a much longer service life compared to electric buses.
"The trolleybus can work without problems for 15 years. On the other hand, the capacity of electric buses is much smaller, and on average they can accommodate 15 to 20 percent fewer passengers than trolleybuses. This can be seen on the already existing lines of electric buses Eko 1 and Eko 2. Because of the battery and other components, those buses have such a chassis that they can accommodate fewer passengers," said Banković.
