CB Taxi Rules

There is a taxi company in Sofia called CB Taxi. I made two surprising observations about it: it has strict rules to improve client satisfaction ; and actually controls how drives implement them. While these two are important enough to tell about in the context of Bulgarian realities, there is one more important reason for me to write about CB Taxi in this blog: it is very unlikely that I would be able to do it in a traditional mass media outlet. Indeed, reporting positively on a business company goes against journalism norms accoring to many in Bulgaria, as it is automatically considered advertising.

My first finding about CB Taxi might seem like a very obvious good business practice. Indeed, all taxi operators in Sofia probably have similar rules on paper that require arrival deadlines after a phone order and polite attitude to clients. But CB Taxi seems to have tougher rules than others, as I heard from one of their drivers tonight. Until recently their drivers were obliged to take an order only if they were able to arrive to the address within 5 minutes after it was first announced on air, and within 10 minutes after the second call. But in order to minimize unnecessary competition among drivers and optimize client satisfaction the management of CB Taxi has recently shortened the arrival deadlines to 1 minute after the first, and 4 minutes after the second call, my souce said.

Yet, my second observation marks the major difference that CB Taxi makes: they do punish drivers for not keeping the rules. Using their cabs previously I had heard from their radio sets male voices disciplining drivers. One one case I heard that a driver was fined for speaking on air without permission and obstructing the operator. I had never heard anything similar during almost two decades of regular cab usage in Sofia. "One justified client complaint and a driver is kicked out", my source told me tonight. Remarkably, he sounded supportive and somewhat proud of what his company is doing.

That is no surprise. Lack of enforcement of any rules is inherent in almost all sectors of Bulgarian society and economy. I will not go in depth analyzing the reasons for this syndrom, but some that come immediately to mind are: low personal and business ethics; bad regulations and inefficient regulatirs; lack of free market; corruption; and public acceptance of profit maximalisation as a supreme universal right at any time and by all means. In these circumstances coming across a company - particulalry a taxi one - that actually tries to compete by serving better its customers and applying rules is unheard of and therefore truly amazing. My natural reactions to this are:
- as a regular cab user to become a most loyal client of CV Taxi and ask all my friends to do so;
- as an active citizen to co-operate with the company management and tell them every time I see a driver cheat on the rules - e.g. by not switching on the taximeter or by smoking in the car; and
- as a journalist to write and tell the whole world about it.

The last action, which might possibly be most effective in terms of multiplying the good effects in society turns out to be almost impossible. One of the basic rules in journalism is the 'wall' between editorial and advertising. But in Bulgarian television newsrooms it seems to have taken a new shape: no potential advertiser's name should ever be mentioned in the news. Justified by the seemingly noble intention to minimize hidden advertising, the new rule actually deprives viewers of any possible comparison between different services. It also takes away the chance for businesses who offer better service or do something positive or visionary to get acknowledged and noticed by the public. In this sense the new rule serves the status quo of low quality user unfriendly service culture which dominates the Bulgarian market.

Ticket tricks in Varna

A tiny incident happened to me in a public transport bus in Varna which I find worth telling about. On Saturday, November 28, 2009, I had just arrived by the intercity train and took the bus from the train station to the bus station, on my way south to Goritsa. Unlike Sofia, Varna's public transport is differently regulated. The major difference is that each bus is equipped with a 'conductor' - a woman in most cases, who sells the tickets to every passenger who boards the bus.

This time again as usual I immediately spotted the conductor and asked whether I am on the right bus to the bus station. She nodded in confirmation and there I was, sitting on a chair and waiting for her to sell me a ticket. With my trailer bag I must have looked like the absolute tourist arriving from the capital out of season. Without much delay the lady approached me, collected the 1 Lev fee and handed me my ticket, which I immediately forgot about.

Surprisingly, a few stops later, she came back with an awkward smile, and muttered quickly something of the kind: "Oh, sorry, sorry, I think I have made some mistake and given you a wrong ticket, could I have it back please". I reached into my pocket, and as it always happens, could not find the damned ticket. I started a quick search for it into my hand bag and other pockets, but the woman interrupted: "No worries, no worries, here, take this one" - and handed me a second ticket. Then she walked further down the bus, apparently asking other passengers the same thing.

In this moment I found the original ticket and looked at it. Indeed, it said 0.50 Levs instead of 1. Almost delighted, I thought everyone makes mistakes, but at least this woman seems to care fixing hers. I then noticed a curious difference: the new ticket I had received from her read "City Transport Varna EAD" while the previous one was issued by some different company. Not too much impressed by the difference I waved at her and handed the 'wrong' ticket back to her.

A minute later I understood it all: there was an inspector in the bus. Another woman, uniformed, pleasant looking in her early retirement age, had boarded the bus and was chatting friendly with the driver. The 'conductor', upon return from her mistake-correcting mission, also gave her a friendly smile. The inspector then walked along the bus and checked all passengers' tickets which, just like mine, were now very correct.

I was disappointed, thinking the 'conductor' had actually really tried to cheat me - and not only - with a cheaper ticket. She must be making a couple of Levs a day from absent minded passengers like myself, I thought. It only occurred to me later, that it may not be only the 'conductor' making something for herself. By using its own tickets rather than the ones issued by the municipality the bus company might as well be hiding some of the profit it makes, I speculated. And here was the random check, which of course did not discover anything suspicious after the speedy ticket replacement mission performed by the conductor.

By the time this thoughts passed through my head it was time for me to leave the bus. So I did not actually do anything. But today, weeks later, I found the old Varna transport 1 Lev ticket in my pocket and the story popped up in my mind. So I chose not to let if be forgotten. Precisely because it is too tiny and insignificant, it reveals best the state of affairs in Bulgaria, where abuse of public funds, cheating and lack of control on behalf of the state seems endemic. Given the proportions of the phenomenon, this incident may seem too minor. There are much more impressive cases of corruption and abuse of public funds that get reported by the news media.

But I think this happens somewhat too selectively. Once, such cases need to fit the media's greed for relevance to as many people as possible. And second, they are often selected by the top level decision makers of the state, who need to provide evidence of doing something against corruption and abuse of public funds - mostly to the EU, which seems to be much more critical of the state of affairs in Bulgaria than Bulgarian public itself. But it is the small scale cases that the average citizen gets confronted by almost every day.

Vitosha Park defenders triumphant as minister revokes permit

Today is a celebration day for many in Bulgaria. First, for the environmental activists who saw yet another struggle turn to a promising stage. It was marked by the decision of Bulgaria's newly appointed environment minister Nona Karadjova to revoke the environmental permit of a ski resort project in Mount Vitosha, near the capital Sofia. Second, and foremost, for all Bulgarians who invested their votes and their hopes in the new government's promises to bring the country back to a rule of law, end corruption, and make the state administration responsible to its citizens and tax payers. But will they be able to celebrate?

The hard-core group of environmental activists in Bulgaria have hardly ever celebrated anything during the last decades of so called transition. These were the times when the country's natural riches were being steadily and systematically transformed into private and corporate assets - like real estate and capital gains for 'investors' of various kind, appetite, and origin. Indeed, the thin group of nature protection activists attracted sympathy and many young members in the past two years, when public outrage grew proportional to the ill-shapen constructions across the country's pristine mountains and sea coast. Indeed, equipped with public support and internet blogs, environmentalists had their small and larger victories. But these felt for them like tiny raindrops in the face of a massive fire of lawlessness, corruption and disregards of citizen's rights to clear environment.

The general public of Bulgaria generously supported the General - Sofia's former mayor Boyko Borissov - in his pledge to bring things back to normal. And to bring the country into Europe - not only nominally as a EU member, but in terms of doing things the right way. But after about three months of 'revision' and 'assessment' of what damage the previous government had had done, the time had come for the new one to deliver the change they promised by their own actions. And the case of Vitosha seemed a lot like a litmus test for their ability to do this.

Although operating from an off-shore company base, the investors in the Vitosha ski zone were well known. Through their connections with the Bulgarian Skiing Federation and First Investment Bank they could be clearly traced back to their previous grand project - Bansko. The ski zone there was constructed within the borers of Pirin, a National Park and UNESCO heritage site, as part of a concession granted in 2001 by then environment minister Evdokia Maneva, and contested by all means and no success in the court by the green activists' group mentioned above. Since then the project was broadly seen as an anti-model of ski resort development which turned the previously existing cosy historic town of Bansko into a urban jungle of unfinished concrete monster hotels with non-existent infrastructure. Uphill Pirin the ski zone went beyond the concession permits and caused serious damage to ecosystems and habitats, ecologists claimed.

The new project in Vitosha berried striking similarities to the previous one. Existing skiing infrastructure mismanaged and abandoned by its its previous state owner was generously granted to the new 'investors' who, like true saviours, were supposed to magically transform it into a glossy money-making resort. But according to the Save the Nature NGOs coalition and the head of Vitosha Nature Park Toma Belev the planned extensions of ski runs was to devastate the natural heritage of the mountain.

The Vitosha Ski zone progressed, in spite of objections and the fact that its development seemed to contradict the park's management plan, approved by Parliament years earlier. Sofia's chief architect Peter Dikov quietly added the project to the capital's urban plan. His act was contested by environmentalists, but was also seen as a sign of support by his former boss Borissov for the project. Maneva's consecutive appointment as a deputy minister of environment, as well as the wave of support for the resort project in certain media outlets made environmentalists and many other citizens expect the business as usual scenario: where money makes everything possible, permits are issued, public opinion gets modified, and critical voices silenced, or just ignored.

But Vitosha is just beyond the government's office windows in Sofia, and the public opinion is different then the one in Bansko and other newly cast resorts across Bulgaria. Today's decision by Borissov's environment minister proves the fears wrong and sends a strong message of hope. In this case it seems Karadjova has acted in line with her party's pre-election promises: to bring rule of law back into nature protection. In their first reaction, the Vitosha Ski investors accused her in making 'irresponsible decisions' and complained that they had not been consulted by her. They also hinted that they might freeze the ski runs for the 2009/2010 season and leave Sofia's inhabitants with no access to their nearest snow slopes. But doing that Vitosha Ski might as well shoot itself in the foot, as the public will judge them by their actions, and not by their promotional articles in convenient news media.

Death on the lake traced home

Immediately after the news of the terrible life loss in the Ohrid Lake on September 5, 2009 hit me a weird sensation crossed my mind: I knew it! I knew this should happen!
I had never suffered from any sort of professy complex before and felt quite puzzled by this surprising thought. I then realized that it was due to my overwhelming experience with travelling around Bulgaria over the last three weeks. Gross, absurd negligence of human safety and life was what I had encountered uninteruptedly while driving Bulgaria's roads. And it was Bulgarian people I had been observing risking the lives of others, including my life and the lives of my children, and - most shockingly - risking their own lives and their own children too.
How would you call someone who is driving full speed overtaking into a zero visibility curve? Suicidal. Life gambler. Murderer. What if his own wife and kids are sitting in the car? Sick. One thing is for sure - I would not trust such a person to care or be responsible for anyone's safety. Neither if he sells food or toys, nor if he drives a taxi, bus or a train. And certainly not if he sails a boat full of tourists. In any case one would expect that authorities of law - or medical - enforcement should prevent such people from harming others or themselves. In vain. Hundreds of innocent lives had been lost in Bulgaria in the months prior to the Ohrid Lake disaster: in accidents involving cars, buses, trucks, and even a burning train. Each of these cases had been reported widely by mass media and investigated. But little had been said and done to change the culture of neglect and irresponsibility to human safety and health, and to improve the laws and institutions that should safeguard them.
For the record, the boat full of Bulgarians had sank on that day abroad, in Macedonia. But the Ochrid tragedy seemed like a detail of the same bloody panorama of neglect and irresponsibilty to me. To my surprise Bulgarian mass media were not quick to make this connection. They covered neatly the actions and speeches of polititians, followed the checks of tour operators' licenses, and took the striking personal accounts of the surviers. But it was not until today actually that I came across a media report which traces the true reasons for the sinking of the Ilinden from Ochrid into Bulgaria. This was done by Sega daily reporting on Nikolay Apostolov, the head of Bulgaria's Maritime Administration in Varna, who admited that the same irregularities which lead to the Ochrid incident exist throughout the Bulgarian tourist fleet as well. Apostolov has reportedly initiated an inspection of all Bulgarian ferries and other vessels for compliance with existing Bulgarian safety regulations. So there is hope!

Milton Keynes for Bulgarians

This article first happened in May 2009 thanks to Iva, a shining star of Bulgaria's journalism and an old highschool friend. She once asked me in Skype if I was living in this 'green town' which she read about somewhere. Well, I did, back then, and immediately suggested to her a few other interesting facts about Milton Keynes which I had learned from reading regularly the local press. Iva was still editing Spunk back then - the healthy lifestyle supplement of Dnevnik and immediately asked me for a story.
Weeks later she reminded me of the deadline, and added that she was expecting something "exciting and inspiring". That was enough to get me running. And it was the running after this story, which helped me discover many things about the city I lived in, mostly positive and very interesting. First, through my own eyes, which I kept wide open now that I had to describe Milton Keynes for a very remote Bulgarian readership. Second, from the internet, where I found tons of interesting data, including the marvelous 1988 Lords Sitting on the Willen lake protest which made me lough with pleasure. And not least, from the people I spoke to.
Petr Jehlicka and Jillian Rose are professors at the Open University's Department of Geography, where I am doing my PhD. Petr has fascinating views and knowledge on sustainable lifestyles and living practices and I thought of interviewing him as a long time MK resident. Jillian, the head of department, had recently presented her very interesting reserach project on the effects of designed urban spaces on human emotions, which focused on MK. I also spoke to Paul Brown, another old friend and a local resident in nearby Leighton Buzzard since the 1950s. Finally, I managed to visit the city planners where I found a very kind and smart Lindsey Richards who was ready to walk to the bus stop after the interview to hand me a bunch of useful and beautiful books. My landlords at the time, Antonan and Galya, added colour and a bit of Bulgarian angle to the story.
The new knowledge aquired about MK and the positive feedback from my Bulgarian-reading friends made me translate the story into English. I then reworked it and added a few more Bulgarian voices to it of two Bulgarian friends: Elitsa Panayotova and Maria Samardjieva to give it a more Central and East European focus. I then offered the revised and rewritten version to Green Horizon in Hungary. Look up the link when the story appears.

New activism needs internet rights protection

Report: Growing pressure on internet freedom and communication rights of Bulgarian citizens*

Internet and new media have boosted civil society activism in Bulgaria in 2004 - 2008. Coincidentally, the pressure against internet freedom and communication rights of Bulgarian citizens have grown to unprecedented level. These challenges have been outlined by BlueLink's contribution to the internal assessment of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in May 2009. To respond to them and meet better the needs of the re-emerging individual activism in Bulgaria further effort to protect internet and communication rights is needed on national and global level, the network suggested to APC and its members.

Similar to other post-socialist countries over its first decade of change Bulgaria had seen an influx of Western donor aid. Unfortunately most of it resulted in the formation of a clique of well-paid NGO functionaries, with little or no connection to the real needs and demands of citizens. New media formats, social networking opportunities and broader access to internet have been instrumental in the emerging of a new generation of activists since 2004. In contrast to the majority of NGO professionals, the new activists are mostly young or in their active age, with regular jobs and incomes, and driven by genuine concern and commitment to certain causes. Environment has been among the first among these causes, which lead to growing protest against the abuse of protected natural areas in the country.

Internet has transformed the growing mass of concerned individuals into a real movement. BlueLink has offered ICT services and know-how to environmental activists and organizations throughout the reporting period. The network has worked with other members to accelerate APC's activities in the area of sustainable development. At the same time, BlueLink has recognised the growing need to put more efforts in the field of internet and communication rights, as essential condition for strengthening civil society. Although as content and IT service provider the network strictly does not campaign on any other issues, not even environmental ones, internet rights, access to information and transparency have been identified by BlueLink's 2008 - 2014 strategy as core campaigning issues to actively engage with.

"We are trying to respond to a pressing need in Bulgarian society to enforce and support activism and participation on individual citizen level", said Dimitur Vassilev - Velin, the interim executive director of BlueLink. Vassilev - Velin, a BlueLink co-founder, has been involved environmental protest and activism since 1988. What we are experiencing today is growing pressure on individual expression, basic rights to assemble and protest, resistance by all means to public access to information and participation, he explained. Internet, communication rights and new media have a lot to suffer - and a lot to offer to civil society in this context, Vassilev - Velin pointed out.

In 2008 BlueLink started the Freenet online campaign against harassment of bloggers and environment protesters by the police and secret services. A broad coalition has been formed by different pressure groups in Bulgaria, to oppose planned law amendments aimed to exclude internet from the scope of basic communication privacy rights guaranteed by Bulgaria's constitution. But this has not been enough, and there is a lot more to be done, Vassilev said.The situation is not unique to Bulgaria. Similar trends symptoms of net oppression could be observed across the EU, certainly in the UK where activists have recently been spied upon by civil servants, and treated as terrorists . Circumstances in the developing world countries are in many ways similar to the developments in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

As a Bulgarian member BlueLink will support active international engagement. APC has been a leader in defense of internet rights since its foundation in 1990 and is well are of the issues and problems that exist globally. APC's further involvement will bring credibility, solidarity, and - in many cases - better safety for the members working in the ground. With its access to international donors, APC is well positioned to help with fundraising for ground work, which due to its nature will be difficult to budget for locally. Taking this agenda and problems to the global internet rights community, as well as sponsoring and organising regional or global coordination and awareness raising events like last years Data Retention Conference hosted by Hungarian APC member Green Spider in Budapest in 2008.

*Originally published by BlueLink.

The media economy of denial

Monbiot: Corrupt journalists and media organisations help climate deniers
Unethical journalists and pseudo-professional newsroom practices are to blame for confusing public understanding of climate change, George Monbiot suggested in his excellent blog on April 29, 2009. He described accurately the practice of journalists working for newspapers, television or radio "secretly taking money from undisclosed interests to champion their views". Monbiot then went on to point at media organisations as "the real suckers" in the climate denial story. He just stopped short of explaining fully the reasons for this.

Media companies like the BBC and Channel 4 gave 15 years of free access to the industry by inviting their paid experts to "balance" the views of genuine scientists, without demanding that they disclosed their sources, Monbiot observed. His explanation that "fake controversy provided better copy than the boring old scientific consensus" limits the problem within editorial logic. But the decisions that made mass media corporations continuously promote climate denial seem to have been made on higher floors than the news desk. They relate to to the political economy of mass media and their forgotten role as ideology gate keepers.

Monbiot's criticism of climate denial publicity was provoked by the last week's revelation by the Washington Post that since 1995 the industry-funded Global Climate Coalition had willingly ignored its own scientists and continued misleading public opinion that man made climate wasn't happening.