The poorly veiled insults directed at the Minister, the Ministry's staff and the public transport centres following the press release issued by the Minister for Regional Development on Wednesday 11 June are unacceptable. The North-Estonian Public Transport Centre (under the new brand name IIL) is concerned when the words and deeds of the politician responsible for the transport organisation of Estonia's largest municipality are as far apart as dawn and dusk.

IIL does not wish to get involved in the political disputes of the day, but we do wish to oppose the false statements of Deputy Mayor Kristjan Järvan. We plan our activities well in advance and coordinate them with the ministry and the municipality concerned in terms of the source of funding. Money is scarce and what little money there is must be used to maximum effect in providing a good service to the people.

False pretence - Baltic station stops will remain, only departures will be reduced. There are no plans to abolish the Mobility Centre.

I am attaching here a reference to a decree in the public document register of the City of Tallinn, signed by Indrek Gailan, Head of the Tallinn Transport Department, on the routes and stops of county bus routes in the administrative territory of Tallinn "https://teele.tallinn.ee/documents/146479/view#metadata". Perhaps the reader has sharper eyes and will find the stop Baltic Station in the order, unfortunately we did not.

The Centre has never claimed that buses have to park behind the Bastion fence. The parking agreement was signed with the City of North Tallinn three years ago, and was temporary until Tallinn resolved the problems caused by the renovation of Vana Kalasadama Street, i.e. a 1/3 reduction of the Baltic Station bus terminal area.

The Centre understands that Tallinn has other plans for the parking lot at Suurtüki 8a, and we welcome the proposal for a future children's playground on such a beautiful site. From IIL's point of view, the closure of the bus parking area at Suurtüki 8a will not in any way affect the use of the bus stops at the Baltic Station. We have solutions and agreements with the owners of the private car parks for parking buses even after the end of the contract, but the Deputy Mayor's wish is to abolish both the parking lot and the Baltic Station stop for the regional lines.

Fake news - Tallinn's wish is to reduce traffic congestion on Toompuiesteel and Mere puiesteel by closing the bus stand and also save money on empty runs to the Baltic station. At the expense of this, regional bus services would be able to densify the public transport network in areas where demand is higher.

If a service offer to 2300 people per day is an empty run to a stop, which gives a total turnover of about 20% from all stops in Tallinn, then something is very wrong with the understanding. Let's look at this claim from the point of view of the service user, for whom the IIL is designed. If the buses no longer go to the Baltic station, we will save 400 000 line kilometres per year, or EUR 628 000. Järvan exaggeratedly called it a million saved. The fact is that for 2,300 passengers a day, the service will get worse. Each transfer means a ten-minute 'penalty time' for the passenger, and Tallinn's public transport is much slower than our buses, adding at least five minutes to the journey to the destination. For the daily commuter, time is very expensive and he or she may not be able to get to the desired transfer at the Baltic station.

Let's take the average salary in Harju County in 2024, which was 2218 euros, calculate 168 hours (10 080 minutes) of normal working hours per month, and use the data on the number of passengers boarding buses in the county at the Baltic station stop. In 2024, an average of 1178 passengers boarded and almost the same number alighted there per day, giving a daily number of passengers at the Baltic station stop of 2300 as mentioned above. Let's add to this a minimum ten-minute time penalty in the future. Multiplying these figures by a year, we can conclude that the savings of €628 000 represent an additional "time penalty" of €1.9 million per year for the passenger, plus the direct cost of the ticket and of rearranging his or her own movements. 2,300 passengers per day at the Baltic station means that 900 fewer private cars per day will be used in Tallinn, which is the target of both the state and the city, at least in the development plans "Tallinn Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan". https://www.tallinn.ee/et/media/525704"

Falsehood - Ministry officials have been letting millions of taxpayers' money burn for years.

The IIL has a very good overview of public transport and there is nothing to burn here. Since 2005, when the transport centre was set up, the number of line kilometres has increased from 3.66 million to 19.3 million, or more than five times, and the number of passengers from 1.3 million to 10.33 million, or about eight times. In recent years, the growth in passenger numbers has slowed down because of a lack of funding to create the necessary new connections, with existing buses already full to capacity. It is worth mentioning here that people do not only travel between the origin and destination stops, but along the entire route. The IIL's aim is to avoid forced movements and to give people the freedom to choose their own route, thereby increasing passenger numbers. We are not saying that transfers are Satanic and that nobody uses them. They are used if the transfer is convenient and onward transport is fast. Unfortunately, this is not the case for public transport in Tallinn. The deputy mayor should focus on tackling this issue, not on headlines in the media.

IIL aims to increase the use of public transport and provide a reliable alternative to the private car. "When on the move, let IIL carry you - it will get you there comfortably and quickly". The IIL connects communities, children's journeys to school, workers' commutes to work, rural people to the city, urban people to the countryside, as well as intra-urban movements.