Dărăști-Ilfov is a commune in the south of

Ilfov County Ilfov () is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but, after the fall of Communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, 20 km from the national capital,

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. It is composed of a single village, Dărăști-Ilfov. The commune, with a population of 2935 people, is mainly inhabited by low-income families, many of which commute to Bucharest for work but live in the locality due to cheaper housing. According to the 2002 census, 100.0% of the population are

ethnic Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

Transport

Until July 2005, Dărăști had been served by public bus route 433 from Bucharest, run by RATB, the capital's bus operator. After July 2005, however, RATB suspended all of its outer-suburban routes in

, including Route 433 to Dărăști, citing lack of profitability on these routes. This resulted in the routes being licensed out to private operators. The Dărăști-Bucharest route was contracted to Atlassib, a Romanian bus company which operates internationally. Atlassib has been accused by the residents of Dărăști for doubling prices, despite the fact that RATB prices were heavily subsidised. In October 2005, this led to a number of revolts by the residents of the Dărăști, many of which refused to pay the fare, physically-abused drivers and controllers, and damaged the buses, causing losses of 200,000 new lei to Altassib. This has led to the introduction of security guards on Dărăști services, and in bus stops alongside the route, making the Dărăști-Bucharest route the only route in Romania that necessitates this type of security. On October 10, 2005, ''

Gândul ''Gândul'' (, "The Thought") is a Romanian online newspaper published in Bucharest. It was founded in May 2005 by Mircea Dinescu, who used to write a daily editorial called "Vorba lu' Dinescu", and Cristian Tudor Popescu, who was also the editor- ...

'' reported that the threats and assault against Atlassib employees increased, prompted by a price rise of more than 30% that Altassib maintains was only caused by a need to recover losses on the route. This had led many to believe that the bus service may soon by totally suspended, leaving the locality without any public transport links with

and further exacerbating Dărăști's social problems. In 2006, RATB reintroduced Route 433 services from Bucharest to Dărăști, and the city is now once again connected to the capital's public bus network.

References

External links

Gândul: "Terrorists" on the Bucharest-Dărăşti bus route
(Romanian language article, 10 October 2005) Darasti Localities in Muntenia {{Ilfov-geo-stub