The rise in the rate of taxis in La Plata, that both the owners and the drivers have been demanding, It opened a new conflict between the councilors of Juntos and the Frente de Todos. The lack of agreement ended up wrecking the meeting of the Transport commission of the Deliberative Council in which the file was to be dealt with. On Friday there will be a new attempt to discuss the increase for the sector.
The Transport Commission of the Council, chaired by the massista Facundo Albini, had planned to meet this Wednesday to discuss the increase in taxi fares but finally fell due to lack of quorum. Only the councilors of the Frente de Todos attended, Juan Granillo Fernandez y William Escuderoin addition to Albini himself.
At the end of February, the different associations that bring together the owners and also the taxi drivers of La Plata, demanded a rise of more than 30% in the lowering of the flag and in the token that is charged for every 120 meters “urgently” to be able to solve the increase in costs due to current inflation.
The two blocks agree that the increase is necessary but not in the way to solve it: the opposition wants the Municipality to subsidize part of the increase and carry out policies to improve the service. There is an agreement in principle to bring the flag down to 232 pesos and the token to 23 pesos during the day, and raise the down to 270 pesos and the token to 27 pesos at night. At present, the descent costs 172 pesos and the tab 18 in the first case; and 200 pesos and 20 pesos, respectively, for trips between 10 pm and 6 am. The increase would end up around 35%.
Councilor Albini pointed to 0221.com.ar that the Municipality “must carry out policies that favor the taxi sector” such as subsidizing fuel, managing credits at a subsidized rate so that taxi drivers can renew their cars and setting up an official taxi platform to compete against other illegal transport. “We are in favor of the increase. We understand that the sector needs the increase, we understand that the numbers do not close,” he said, adding: “The difference is that we are convinced that for the numbers to close, the funds have to come from of the municipality, and in the ruling party they believe that the increase has to be absorbed by the user”.
For Together, the mayor Juan Manuel Martinez Garmendia accused Albini of seeking “gain a political advantage” and assured that “There is no municipality” that subsidizes taxis and that, faced with this situation, they decided not to attend the commission. “The increase requested by the sector has to do with the macroeconomic disaster of the national government and they are asking the Municipality to subsidize the rates with the money of La Plata taxpayers. This does not happen in any municipality in the country,” he told this medium. “We are willing to talk about some measure but not about the subsidy,” he remarked.
The head of the Taxi Drivers Union, Juan Carlos Beron, He complained about the lack of treatment of the increase in commission and assured that the sector is going through a serious crisis. “Historically, the remise was always cheaper than the taxi and today it is above the taxi. If the rate is not raised, many taxis will have to stop circulating because they have no margin left: they do not have to pay the taxes, the spare parts , VTV, they have no room for anything with how cheap the rate is,” he told this newspaper. And he added: “Albini appears with ten points that are unfeasible now, the only thing we want is the rate increase. It hurts us that we are only asking for rate increases. He wants to confront the Municipality, which is the only thing that matters to him “, he opined.
The commission was summoned to a meeting for next Friday at 10 am.
