The Slavena bus station in Ungheni: what the ANTA Order and the Municipal Council's decisions show

Editor’s note (12 August 2026). We have updated this article compared with the first version: we clarified the applicable legal framework — the Road Transport Code no. 150/2014 in its in-force redaction; we corrected the list of minimum conditions the law requires of a bus station; we included ANTA Order no. 400 of 19 December 2025, by which ANTA included the operator in the Inter-district Road Transport Program for the routes listed; we reformulated the conclusions on the effect of Municipal Council Decision no. 2/3 of 17 February 2026; and we reflected the position of SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28”.

Update, 18 August 2026. At the newsroom’s request (Law no. 148/2023), the National Road Transport Agency communicated that the Slavena bus station has been registered in the Register of Related Activities since September 2025, that the applicable regime is notification (not authorization or licensing), and that the revocation of the Municipal Council’s decision does not constitute grounds for removal. We corrected the legal regime — notification, not authorization — and integrated ANTA’s findings, including the circumstance of the positive endorsements issued by the City Hall for routes from the bus station whose removal it had requested. The Council’s urban-planning objections are a question that ANTA does not examine.

Anyone catching a minibus from Ungheni to Chișinău or to the villages of the district can, since late 2025, depart from two places. One is the bus station on Feroviară Street, next to the railway station. The other is a parking lot next to a commercial center on Decebal Street 19/B, known as the “Slavena bus station,” run by the joint-stock company “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28.”

ANTA confirms that the bus station has been registered in the Register of Related Activities since September 2025 and communicates to the City Hall that the revocation of the Municipal Council’s decision does not constitute grounds for removal. Thirty-four regular inter-district routes depart from this point daily. The Municipal Council, which in 2024 had approved the arrangement, reversed course: it suspended the consent in January 2026 and revoked it in February 2026, citing that the land has a commercial designation — not that of a bus station — and that the site raises safety concerns. These urban-planning objections fall outside ANTA’s competence.

Two places of departure, one town

Ungheni’s “historic” bus station is on Feroviară Street, 2, next to the railway station. In the ANTA register updated as of 4 September 2023, the address Feroviară 2 was the only address in Ungheni listed for bus-station activity. The register, however, predates the appearance of the Slavena bus station.

The second appeared on a parking lot next to a commercial center on Decebal Street 19/B and is run by SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28.” Since September 2025, ANTA confirms that it appears in the Register of Related Activities (Extract no. MD001217 of 29.09.2025).

The link between the two is made by an ANTA act. By Order no. 400 of 19 December 2025, the agency amended the Inter-district Road Transport Program for the routes expressly listed in the act: it excluded the bus-station operator Î.S. “Direcția pentru Exploatarea Imobilului” (Ungheni branch) and included SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28” — “Autogara Slavena BTA 28,” at the address Decebal 19/B. The routes in question are the regular services Chișinău, North Bus Station (departures at 10.20 and 16.00) — Ungheni, Bus Station (departures at 06.20 and 13.00), served by the operators SRL “Servicii Transport Auto” and SA “Mașrut.”

When several bus stations operate in a locality — as is the case in Ungheni — the law provides that the central specialized body sets the priority directions of service, without limiting the operators’ right to choose the bus station through which they serve their routes (art. 86 para. 8).

How it came to this: the Council’s decisions

The local basis for the Slavena bus station was, at first, a Municipal Council decision of 27 September 2024, by which the council, examining the request of the administrator of SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28,” approved the arrangement of a bus station on part of the land and building belonging, under private property right, to the company “Slavena Lux” SRL. The same authority then reversed its position: it suspended the decision on 29 January 2026 and revoked it on 17 February 2026.

In the revocation decision, the councillors held that the land — cadastral no. 9201103.733 — is classified by the General Urban Plan in the commercial zone, where the function of a bus station is not provided, and that the place does not ensure a safe separation of pedestrian and vehicle flows:

the function of a bus station is not provided for this site Decision of the Ungheni Municipal Council no. 2/3 of 17 February 2026

For the function of a bus station to be possible there, the council states in the decision, a zonal urban plan (ZUP) would be needed to demonstrate, through a project and approvals, that access, parking, platforms, and traffic can be organized safely. The newsroom did not identify, in the documents consulted, such a ZUP for this parcel. The need for a ZUP, like the objections on urban planning and safety, is the position of the Municipal Council.

Registration with ANTA

Bus-station activity falls within the competence of the National Road Transport Agency. At the newsroom’s request (Law no. 148/2023), ANTA communicated (response no. 5550 of 11 August 2026) that SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28” is registered in the Register of Related Activities (RAC) for bus-station activity at the address Decebal 19/B, as confirmed by Extract no. MD001217 of 29 September 2025.

The registration was preceded by notification no. 25265021 of 23 May 2025, filed by the operator. ANTA specifies that, at the date of filing, the conditions required by the applicable regulatory framework were met.

Separately, by Order no. 400 of 19 December 2025, ANTA included the operator in the Inter-district Road Transport Program — that is, it established the routes departing from the Slavena bus station. As of ANTA’s response, 34 regular inter-district routes depart daily from the Slavena bus station, bound for Chișinău, Bălți, Nisporeni, and Soroca.

What the law requires of a bus station

The word “bus station” describes not just a parking lot with a booth; it is a regulated activity. The Road Transport Code no. 150/2014 provides that bus-station activity operates under a notification and registration regime in the ANTA Register of Related Activities (art. 86, 88). ANTA specifies that the notification does not constitute a permissive act within the meaning of Law no. 160/2011 and is not included in the Nomenclature of Permissive Acts — no license or activity authorization is issued.

The law requires the bus station to be arranged and equipped with at least: a ticket office, an information desk, at least two platforms for departing and arriving buses, its own sanitary unit with at least two cabins, a waiting room with at least 20 seats, a space for storing luggage, information display at each platform, and the infrastructure for connection to the integrated management system (art. 87).

For registration, the enterprise files, among others, the acts confirming the right to use the land and building for at least a year, the bus station’s layout at a scale of 1:100, and — for new bus stations — a copy of the local public authority’s decision approving the arrangement of the bus station (art. 88 para. 3).

On 27 September 2024, the text of the law referred generally to “the decision of the local public authority,” and Decision 7/24 approved the arrangement of the bus station. The current wording, which specifies “the executive body of the local public authority,” came into force later, on 18 July 2025.

The registered holder then has explicit obligations (art. 90): to display at each ticket office the working schedule, to draw up the bus station’s working schedule according to the departure times of the routes, and — crucially — to “allow, in a non-discriminatory manner, road-transport operators access to the services offered by the bus station.” After concluding an access contract with an operator serving a route, the bus station does not have the right to refuse other operators serving routes on the same route (art. 90 para. 3).

What the regime guarantees

These requirements are not formal.

Non-discriminatory access. The law obliges the bus-station operator to allow, in a non-discriminatory manner, road-transport operators access to services and, after concluding an access contract with an operator on a route, not to refuse other operators serving the same route (art. 90).

Record-keeping and coordination of routes. The law requires displaying the schedule and organizing the bus station by departure times (art. 90), so that departures are orderly and predictable for travelers.

Minimum equipment. The platforms, the waiting room, the information desk, and the sanitary unit (art. 87) are the minimum material conditions the law requires of any bus station.

Compliance with the specific requirements for bus-station activity is verified within ANTA’s competences.

What ANTA found on the City Hall’s requests

The City Hall of Ungheni municipality requested the removal of the bus station from the Register of Related Activities, by submissions no. 120-01/1-37 of 30 January 2026 and no. 267-02/1-37 of 19 February 2026. ANTA joined them and examined them under the Administrative Code no. 116/2018.

The agency found that the suspension and revocation of Municipal Council Decision no. 7/24 do not, in themselves, constitute legal grounds for the removal of the activity from the RAC or for finding the notification null — the provisions of art. 28 of the Road Transport Code are not met. Legislative amendments that came into force after the notification was filed cannot be applied retroactively to a legal situation that arose earlier. The findings were communicated to the City Hall by letter no. 02/1-2219 of 29 April 2026.

ANTA also communicates: during 2026, the agency requested the City Hall’s endorsement for modifying regular services departing from the Slavena bus station (under art. 37 para. 6 of the Road Transport Code). The City Hall issued positive endorsements.

What the operator says

In a position sent to the newsroom on 12 August 2026, the administrator of SA “Baza de Transport Auto nr. 28,” Oleg Alexa, disputed the framing in the first version of the article and argued the activity is legal. He points out that, under the Road Transport Code, bus stations may be state or private, their number in a locality is not limited, and road-transport operators have the right to choose the bus station through which they serve their routes, by notifying ANTA. He further points out that the local council’s consent is a preparatory act, required until registration with ANTA; and, in his interpretation, after completing the notification and registration procedure with ANTA, the subsequent withdrawal or annulment of the local act could not suspend an already registered activity.

ANTA’s response, received by the newsroom subsequently, confirms two of the operator’s claims: the bus station is registered in the RAC, and the agency informed the City Hall that the revocation of the local decision does not constitute grounds for removal.

The operator also maintains that he holds an ANTA inspection act that would show the bus station meets the minimum facilities; this document is not held by the newsroom.

What remains open

ANTA confirms: the Slavena bus station is registered, the notification was filed under lawful conditions, and the revocation of the Council’s decision does not constitute grounds for removal.

The Municipal Council, however, raises objections that concern not the transport regime but urban planning: the land at Decebal 19/B is classified by the General Urban Plan in the commercial zone (zone E), the function of a bus station is not provided for this site, and the site would not ensure a safe separation of pedestrian and vehicle flows. ANTA does not pronounce on urban-planning compliance — this falls outside the transport agency’s competence.

The newsroom does not hold the urban-planning documentation needed to independently confirm or refute the Council’s objections. A zonal urban plan (ZUP) that would regulate the function on this parcel has not been identified in the documents consulted.

The newsroom has requested from ANTA copies of Extract no. MD001217 and of the inspection act cited by the operator; as of the date of this update, the documents had not yet been provided.