As the most important events of the week shall be considered the opening of Brasa viaduct for tram traffic and the approval of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” 2018 annual report at the Board’s meeting on May 23. The annual report will be submitted to the holder of the capital shares for approval at the shareholders meeting. The approval of the RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” 2018 annual report enables the approval of the consolidated annual report of the Riga city municipality, which is a significant event in the municipality’s life. As for Brasa viaduct, it is crossed by one of the two tram routes adjusted for low-floor trams. The closure of one of these routes will cause significant organizational difficulties due to the demurrage of trams and an excessive load on the fleet of buses. Such a situation could have a significant long-term impact on the core business of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme”. The calculation of the financial impact from the closure of Brasa viaduct has not been finished yet.

On May 20, a meeting was held to discuss the technical condition of Brasa viaduct and its technical expertise. The participants of the meeting included acting Chairman of Riga City Council O. Burovs, Deputy Chairman of Riga City Council V. Baraņņiks, Chairman of the Riga City Council Communication and Transport Committee V. Faļkovs, Director of the Riga City Council Transport Department V. Reinbahs and employees of the department, as well as representatives of Riga City Construction Board and the State Police. At the meeting, “Rīgas satiksme” was represented by Communication and Traffic Organization Director E. Zivtiņš, Chairman of the Board Dr. iur. E. Saulītis and Board member J. Meirāns. The capital company provided information about the weight of tram sets and distribution of weight on axes, which is important for technical expertise to be performed.

The “technical” meeting of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” on May 21 discussed several types of issues related to day-to-day operations of the capital company and the development of its further action plans. As part of improving corporate management, anticorruption and procurement procedures, law office “Evershed Sutherland Bitāns” is due to submit document drafts at the end of this week

On May 22, the Board of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” had a traditional weekly meeting with the holder of its capital shares. V. Baraņņiks, acting Chairman of Riga City Council O. Burovs, as well as the leadership of the Riga City Council Finance Department also attended the meeting. The Board informed about concluding the stabilization of the capital company, the process of preparing the annual report and future challenges. Following the instructions of the leadership of Riga City Council, the Board of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” will brief the heads of Riga City Council committees about these events at their meeting.

On May 23, the audited 2018 annual financial report of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” was approved at the Board’s meeting. The annual report will be submitted to the holder of the capital shares for approval at the shareholders meeting. The Board approved the position of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” (voting task) for the meeting of SIA “Rīgas karte” shareholders due on May 29. The Board also listened to the report of the expert committee regarding the contracts of “Škoda Transportation/Škoda Electric”. As the discussion about possible scenarios of further action was not finished, it will be continued at the Board’s meeting of May 28. The Board also approved the project of installing online information boards. The project provides for installing passenger information boards at 15 public transport stop by the end of summer and connecting these boards to central traffic control service to inform passengers about transport departure times online.

The week concluded on May 24 with preparations for the opening of Brasa viaduct for tram traffic. As initially there were only plans to resume the traffic of old trams, the process of planning was quite complicated. Yet late in the afternoon, we received information about the expertise results allowing to resume the traffic of all kinds of trams on Brasas viaduct. Necessary changes have been made to resume public transport traffic in full, while abiding by the restrictions set by the expertise performers, which provide that traffic of all types of public transport is allowed only on the part of the viaduct where  the tramway tracks are located.

Also on Friday, the group managing the preparation of RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” development planning documents, which includes the directors of all the sectors and representatives delegated by the sectors, held its first meeting. The group considered the plan of preparing RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme” development planning documents, as well as analysed the previously approved Action plan for 2019, revaluating carefully the events and performance indicators. This work was led by Board member A.Krūze. The managing group also emphasised the tasks for the year 2020.