Five bus business chambers of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) announced the total suspension of its services from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. this Tuesday, as well as between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. this Wednesday. The protest takes place within the framework of the conflict that the companies maintain with the Nation and Province and the 72-hour truce signed after the last string of days of strike and will reach 200 bus lines that will not circulate in Greater Buenos Aires, affecting about 160 thousand people who use these transports.
Among the companies that will bow to the measure of force are Metropolis y Buenos Aires Missionthe two companies that operate the lines that connect La Plata with the Federal Capital and that thousands of people use daily to travel from the city to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and vice versa.
“The situation worsened with inflation. We cannot mark prices because the rate is set by the State. So, we have no choice but to rationalize resources by reducing night frequencies and stopping the service in off-peak hours, to affect as little as possible to the population”said Luciano Fusaro of the Argentine Association of Automotive Transport Entrepreneurs (AAETA) to the newspaper’s website Clarion.
Fusaro also referred to the monthly increases in rates that until June will be tied to the Consumer Price Index (IPC) published periodically by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) and stressed that they “only serve the State to reduce subsidies”.
The protest is led by the Business Chamber of Passenger Auto Transport (CEAP), Business Chamber of Urban Transport of Buenos Aires (CETUBA), Chamber of Transport of the Province of Buenos Aires (CTPBA), Argentine Association of Businessmen of Automotive Transport (AAETA) and the Chamber of United Businessmen of Urban Passenger Transport of Buenos Aires (CEUTUPBA), which issued a harsh press release this afternoon to publicize the measure and insisted that the suspension of services will be carried out “in order to make benefits compatible with available financial resources.
“As of the date, the funds corresponding to the first quarter of the current year are pending accreditation, for a total value equivalent to almost the total compensation for a full month, even considering that the pertinent calculations do not sufficiently cover the real costs. of the activity”denounced and apologized to the users affected by the protest.
CONCESSIONS IN THE SIGHT
Last Thursday the conflict reached its peak, when after almost 3 days of protest the provincial government held through the Minister of Transportation Jorge D’Onofrio that would advance in the removal of the Metropol concession. “We are up to date, we pay for a service, if the company does not comply we will call for tenders so that other companies comply”said the provincial official.
Faced with a new day of the employer lockout of the Metropol firm, The Ministry of Transportation of the province of Buenos Aires announced the start of the procedures for the removal of the concession of the public passenger service on Buenos Aires soil. “The negotiation stage is over,” the provincial official then declared.
“We have been trying to talk for a while, to bring positions closer. Now it has taken another volume, it would be the third day of this lockout. We are up to date, we pay for a service, if the company does not comply, we will call for tenders so that other companies can do so. comply,” added the official, while the protest by the firm that demands the payment of an alleged debt in terms of subsidies and compensation continues.
“I am going to continue advancing in the concession expiration process and tender them again. I need a million Buenos Aires residents who get into the cars of this company to have their service”said the minister. And he settled: “You don’t screw around with the Province, either they provide the service or we execute the concession. Today we are going to be intimidating it and this week we are going to take out the resolutions so that it becomes a reality.”
The measure, however, was rendered ineffective after the businessmen and the Government finally agreed to cease the protest and a truce for 72 hours to try to unblock the conflict, which has now escalated again.
