Representatives of the Employers Association of Road Transport Operators request to increase passenger transport fares. They said that as a result of discussions with companies that operate regular national routes, it was determined that the operators cannot cover the costs and such a tendency started with the first wave of rises in the price of diesel fuel earlier this year. In a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spînu, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Association asks to do calculations and approve the tariffs for regular passenger transportation services in district and inter-district traffic, IPN reports.
The Association noted that due to the pandemic that has lasted for over a year and a half, the flow of passengers decreased considerably and over 1,500 drivers vacated their posts. Investments for renewing the buses are not made and almost 20% of the regular routes are not operated. Furthermore, the price of diesel fuel rises daily.
The last time the fares were approved in December 2019, as a result of protests mounted by carriers. In the hope that the tariff will be calculated and approved annually and that many of the problems in the field will be solved by signing and implementing the draft memorandum, the carriers accepted the approved tariff, but the commitment made by the Ministry is not fulfilled.
“We note that today we work at a tariff of 0.6 lei/km, which is by only 0.02 lei higher than the tariff set by the expertise report of August 2012, in which the calculations were based on a diesel fuel price of 15.6 lei/liter and a driver’s salary of 1,200 lei/month,” says the letter.
In 2009, the Ministry approved the tariff at 0.38 lei/km, in 2013 – at 0.48 lei/km, while in 2019 – at 0.60 lei/km.
