Increasing ticket prices vs. digitalization of services
The Municipality of Pristina through a notification on social media, has announced that from July 1st, a new price list for public transport tickets will come into effect in the capital, which represents a price increase.
What did the Municipality of Pristina announce?
Although an image of the new prices was attached to the announcement, in the caption of the post, the Municipality only mentioned the term “new prices” without indicating that they are an increase. The focus of the announcement is placed on the “digitalization of public transport”. The Municipality announced that tickets purchased via digital wallet or SMS will be cheaper than physical tickets.
"The digitization of public transport continues to expand. From July 1, 2026, new public transport ticket prices will come into effect. Tickets purchased via digital wallet or SMS, through mobile phone operators, will have lower prices compared to physical tickets. The changes include one-way, daily, weekly, monthly tickets, the Airport line ticket, as well as annual and digital corporate tickets," It was stated in the announcement that the new price list was also attached.
What do "new prices" mean?
The new price list represents an increase in ticket prices, based on a table from the "Urban Traffic" website.
Before this decision, a one-way ticket cost 50 cents in both physical and digital form. Now it has become more expensive by 10 cents in digital form and by 30 cents in physical form.
The daily ticket, which was 80 cents until June 30, will cost 1 euro in digital form and 1.2 euros in physical form from July 1.
The weekly ticket has gone from 4 euros to 5 euros if purchased digitally and 6 euros in physical form.
Meanwhile, the monthly ticket of 13.5 euros has become 14.5 euros in digital form and 18 euros in physical form.
How did the media report?
Monitoring by Hibrid.info found that the media in most cases emphasized that ticket prices had increased. However, there were articles that did not mention the word increase at all, but instead emphasized digitalization.
In these articles, the dominant headlines were about “new prices” for public transport in the capital. Apart from the headlines, the content did not indicate that these were higher prices, nor was there any comparison with the old price list. However, they emphasized that digital tickets would be cheaper than physical ones (see here, here, here, here, here and here)
“Cherry-picking”
While the announcement includes new prices, the way they are presented brings to mind the phenomenon known as "Cherry picking". This is a method of argumentation based on the selective use of information, where only data that supports the desired conclusion is taken into account, while information that contradicts or complements it is ignored.
According to a Global Fact-Checking article, selective presentation of facts is a manipulation that works by obscuring context. This technique allows for "proving" anything without having to invent lies.
"Cherry-picking" is used as a strategy to create the illusion of success even in times of crisis.
In this case, the Municipality has chosen only the side of digitalization by hiding the words that indicate that ticket prices are being increased.
Selective presentation of facts, according to an article by Global Fact-Checking, is dangerous. According to the article, the greater danger lies not in lies, but in distorting the context by overshadowing other data. This practice is said to impair critical thinking by making it impossible to draw informed conclusions, reinforce confirmation bias by encouraging us to believe only fragments that match our beliefs, and replace rational analysis with emotions whenever something simply “sounds good.”
Furthermore, this manipulation creates social polarization and increases our vulnerability to those who control the flow of information, while in the scientific sphere it completely undermines the credibility of research by hiding failures, limitations, or results that contradict the researcher's hypothesis.