Penza, 2 April 2015. PenzaNews. Over 40 people, including activists of the Communist Party city committee and representatives of the regional public organization “Children of War,” took part in a picket for the rights of owners of dachas (summer houses with gardens on the outskirts of the city) near the Penza administration hall on Thursday, April 2.

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The protesters carried the flags of the Communist Party and banners reading: “Save all suburban buses,” “Governor talks potatoes, gives no transport,” “Friday is the dacha day,” “We demand cheap dacha commutes four days a week,” and others.

The resolution document signed during the picket, which will be sent to the Penza region governor Vasily Bochkarev and the Penza mayor Yuri Krivov, includes some vital demands, Sergei Padalkin, spokesman for the regional committee of the Communist Party, told PenzaNews agency.

“To make suburban buses work four times a week, to avoid fare increase, a burden for citizens. It will be too expensive for the elderly to travel to the countryside, while some people feed from their dachas, and make money through the harvest. And the city administration plans to shift the cost of suburban buses on to dacha cooperatives, which also causes outrage,” the speaker said.

According to him, dacha owners are also concerned about the decision to cancel some city commute trains.

“The Penza region was among those where commuter trains were brought back after the statement of [the Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and then made most of the trains disappear again. Therefore, the return of city commute trains is also among our demands,” Sergei Padalkin added.