Next year may bring about a rise of regional public transport fares, said the Chairman of the Board of Latvian Road Transport Administration (ATD) Dins Merirands in an interview to TV3 programme “900 seconds”.
“I am confident that next spring, when a year has passed since the last review of public transport fares, ATD will submit a proposal to the Public Transport Council to review these fares,” said Merirands.
He also mentioned that regional bus fares and train fares might go up.
He also mentioned that in December 2023, when the current fares were approved, the Public Transport Council ordered ATD to regularly follow the cost positions in the public transport sector and report on possible fares at least once a year.
Merirands noted the government’s approved budget for 2025 has at least EUR 94 million set aside for public transport services. This, according to him, is not enough to maintain the public transport network on the existing level without changing anything.
He also mentioned that ATD, as the customer of public transport in regional transport, sees multiple directions to follow. And work in several directions is already underway. “This is not just associated with the narrowing of the public transport network, but the provision of the service in an efficient manner,” said Merirands.
The head of ATD also mentioned that more than 1 500 public transport trips will be reviewed next year.
In December 2023, the Public Transport Council approved the new regional public transport fare and tariff system. New tariffs and fares of regional public transports came into force on the 1st of April 2024.
In the new tariff system, the minimum fare in Riga is EUR 1.5, in other cities – EUR 1, and outside cities – EUR 0.7. At the same time, the fare for a train trip, for example, on the route Riga-Liepaja increased from EUR 7.4 to EUR 8.01, while the fare for a bus trip on this route increased from EUR 8.65 to EUR 10.4.