During his meeting with the management of the Road Transport Administration (ATD), Latvian Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens was informed of the situation with regional bus services and offered his solutions, as confirmed by the ministry’s Communications Office.
Based on the current situation situation, it is more economical for the carrier to cancel the trip than to try to provide it, because regardless of the number of cancelled trips, the penalty is EUR 500 per month.
On Wednesday, the 27th of September, Liepājas autobusu parks JSC announced eight cancelled bus trips in Liepāja, according to information from ATD.
The company explained the cancellation with the shortage of bus drivers.
But the problem with the cancellation of regional bus trips is also observed on routes serviced by Ventspils carrier Norma-A.
In August 2023 Liepājas autobusu parks failed to provide a number of bus trips in Pieriga part of its network of routes. Most of the cancelled trips were in Ķekava’s direction.
After receiving explanations and meeting with the management of ATD, all routes and the best possible decisions were considered. However, the current situation is clear – the signed contracts are unprofitable for the state and do not motivate the ATD to perform regional bus trips in a timely and high-quality manner, the Ministry of Transport notes.
“Regardless of the number of cancelled trips, the maximum penalty is the same – EUR 500 a month. This is neither logical nor fair.
It is more economical for the carrier to cancel a trip instead of trying to provide it.
Contracts have to be composed in a way to motivate carriers to fulfil all of their planned trips,” stresses Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens.
On Tuesday, the 26th of September, Liepājas autobusu parks cancelled four bus trips. All of them were cancelled due to a shortage of drivers and were in Liepaja’s territory.
The ministry’s lawyers are ordered to review contracts and the penalty policy. ATD, too, has commenced work on law amendments to take action against dishonest carriers.
ATD and the minister also discussed route-planning process, concluding that passenger flow modelling is not used, and railway and bus routes are not organised efficiently. “Once new trains have been deployed, we will review routes to reduce the workload in areas in which carriers are experiencing problems,” the minister promises.
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