Through a draft resolution, The opposition asked the mayor Julio Garro to report when he will send to the Deliberative Council of La Plata the specifications for the new tender for public transport in the city that will define the new bus routes and the new rules of the game for companies. In this way, the issue threatens to become one of the axes of discussion between the ruling party and the opposition during the upcoming electoral process.
The initiative was introduced at the end of March by the councilor of the Frente de Todos, Paula Lambertiniwho asked to know “if there is an established date for sending the specifications and conditions for the concession of the bus transport lines.”
Garro announced that he would re-license the system at the opening of the ordinary sessions of the Council in 2022. The preparation of the new specifications was entrusted to the Secretary of Planning, in charge of Maria Botta, who worked all last year on the issue but has not yet referred it to the Council for study. Within this framework, the opposition submitted throughout this year numerous requests for reports to find out if the statement will respond to the main demands of the people of La Plata.
In this sense, the draft resolution also asks the Executive “how long has it been since the concessions expired” and “under what mechanisms are they still in force”, as well as to know if the Executive presented an extension to allow transport companies continue to operate, despite having expired permits.
In another section of the text, the opposition also asks about the surveys carried out by the Executive among the users of the buses. “How many surveys have been carried out in order to modify the transport system to incorporate the demands of the residents to the specifications and what measures have been taken in this regard?”, states the project in which the responses of the neighbors and neighbours.
“It cannot be that there are concessions for lines that expired two years ago and we do not get answers under what conditions they continue to operate,” Lambertini said when presenting the project.
He also remarked that the current transport system “completed a cycle” and considered that it does not meet the needs of users who travel daily in the city: “We need to generate new routes, improve frequencies, guarantee predictability to passengers through the use of technology”.
