They finally did it. After threatening to raise public transport fares for the past few years, the city administration finally increased the costs four-fold starting Nov. 4.

Instead of Hr 0.5 per ride, bus, tram, trolley and metro tickets will cost Hr 2. Considering people's wobbly financial situation due to the crisis, this change was a shock to many.

Of course, prices for public transport are much higher in Western Europe. The average fee for a metro ride is one euro, and such a ticket will only buy you a ride of a certain distance in a certain timeframe. In Kyiv, the price of Hr 0.5 allowed you to ride free in the metro all day long if you wished to stay within its confines. Since there is hardly anything else you can buy for 50 kopecks in Kyiv, the price was ridiculously low.

But a four-fold jump in a single day is a bit too much just the same.

Frankly, I would willingly pay more for transport option if it actually affected the quality of service in any way. But it won’t. Marshrutkas, which used to cost an average of Hr 2, will surely react to an increase in public transport fees and raise their own fees up to … Hr 8? I wouldn’t be surprised. However, I have serious doubts that many people would give up on marshrutkas even then. The number of appropriately large buses is really insufficient, as well as the variety of routes they offer. Besides, many buses and trams are very old and slow. That’s why people still do their best to squeeze into the crammed mini-buses on their way to work in the morning. There are often funny stickers in marshrutkas that read: “Standing places are unlimited” and the drivers encourage you to follow this prescription as much as they can, letting in passengers until they start to fall out as soon as the door opens. Some argue that during rush hour, the metro is the best choice. It is, if you don’t mind being trapped underground and squeezed in a large crowd of people. And when it comes to changing lines at some of the liveliest places like Maidan Nezalezhnosti and Khreshchatyk – it’s a real battle for survival, and it will stay this way no matter what the prices are.

As it always happens, people hurriedly started discussing public transportation topics. Some suggest that it would be more convenient and not much more expensive to go by car. Others offer to use bicycles instead – like in Amsterdram, omitting the fact that in Amsterdam lanes for bicycles are just as wide as those for cars, while Kyiv has none at all. Personally, I wouldn't advise everyone to use their cars isntead of public transport because in that case we would be stuck in a never-ending traffic jam very soon. My friend came up with a different solution: she suddenly announced to me that she is going to buy a motorcycle. She can’t yet afford a car, and since with the rising transportation fees the level of comfort will stay unchanged, she can as well ride with the wind on her own.