12 December, Lepel /Own. inf./. For the second month, a new hundred-seater MAZ bus has been running through the streets of Lepel. It has replaced the well-worn PAZ vehicle, which often could not accommodate all those wishing to travel.
12 December, Lepel /Own. inf./. For the second month, a new hundred-seater MAZ bus has been running through the streets of Lepel. It has replaced the well-worn PAZ vehicle, which often could not accommodate all those wishing to travel. Now, passengers on route "five" feel comfortable, as does the driver, Vasily Zhilinsky, who is assigned to this route.
The need for a higher-capacity vehicle for city route No. 5 had been apparent for a long time. During morning hours, it was necessary to dispatch an additional bus that had returned from a suburban route.
Daily, the conductor collects fares from approximately 420 people, with a significant number of concessionary passengers in addition to this figure. Peak hours on weekdays occur at 7:20 AM, when adults commute to work and schoolchildren go to classes, and in the evening – when everyone returns home. There is also a certain level of congestion on weekends, related to the large number of visitors to the market. Previously, during these times, passengers experienced nervousness, discomfort, and awkwardness, longing to reach their destination quickly and get out into the fresh air. The driver also had a difficult time: crowding, extraneous conversations, and stuffiness in the summer.
The brand-new, lime-green MAZ lifts spirits with its appearance alone. Internally, the driver's area is separate, and heaters are operational, meaning the onset of cold weather will not affect passenger comfort – the cabin is warm. The new bus consumes 33 litres of fuel per hundred kilometres, while the previous one consumed 23 litres for the same distance and carried three times fewer passengers. The economy is evident.
Vasily Zhilinsky has been working at OJSC "Autotransport Enterprise No. 14" since 1986. He immediately noticed the difference compared to the PAZ. It took him a day to adapt – one quickly gets used to good things. The automatic transmission makes driving easier, and consequently, the driver's fatigue after twelve hours behind the wheel (ten trips a day) has decreased.
Despite all this, there are nuances. Some intersections are rather narrow for the MAZ, and if it were to be directed onto city routes No. 2 or No. 3, it would not be able to turn around at all. On Sundays, it is difficult to turn from Volodarskogo Street onto Budennogo Street and a little further – at the intersection with Danukalova Street, near the pharmacy, as drivers park their cars on the roadside. It would be desirable for traffic police officers to regulate this situation.