Regional public transport passenger carriers in Latvia are once again considering organizing a protest over the revision of long-term contract prices, while the Road Transport Administration (ATD) says it is still assessing the legal options for making any changes to contracts.
On Wednesday, the Latvian Passenger Carriers Association (LPCA/LPPA) met with Transport Minister Atis Švinka and the ATD to discuss problems in the passenger transport sector.
LPPA President Ivo Ošenieks told LETA that the meeting was tense and that carriers wanted answers to two questions: how long-term contract prices will be revised and what additional funding would be required.
“No answers were provided, therefore carriers are considering the next steps, including possible protest actions. The option of going to court is also being considered, because the sector is being ignored,” Ošenieks said.
At the same time, he explained that the Transport Ministry’s draft order to allocate €9 million for regional bus transport this year covers only missing base funding needed to prevent cuts to the route network.
“It does not solve the issue that the economic situation has changed and that actual costs now significantly exceed contract prices,”
he added.
Ošenieks stressed that the rise in real operating costs is not due to carriers’ incompetence, but to global events whose impact could not have been predicted during the procurement process. “That is why we are demanding that contract prices be revised, and additional funding is needed to compensate for this increase — something the ministry does not want to acknowledge,” he said.
He added that indexing contracts above the originally bid prices would require at least €15 million in total on top of the base funding. “That means at least another €6 million would be needed,” Ošenieks said.
ATD Chairman Jānis Lapiņš told LETA that the agency is continuing to work on carriers’ submission, noting that the contracts were awarded through public procurement. In December, ATD met with the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (IUB) to assess risks and to understand the legal possibilities of whether such contracts can be changed at all and amended, Lapiņš said.
He added that
ATD is currently awaiting a written response from the IUB regarding possible scenarios and actions.
“The issue is not only whether it is possible to raise contract prices, but also, for example, what indexing mechanisms could be used,” Lapiņš said.
Lapiņš emphasized that carriers themselves set the per-kilometre prices in the contracts and expressed readiness to perform contracts at those prices.
“If a carrier does not want to perform a contract and wants to terminate it, we are ready to look for solutions and for carriers willing to fulfil the contracts, because passengers must be provided with mobility,” he said.
As previously reported, the Transport Ministry has prepared a draft order proposing additional funding of €9.19 million to ensure public transport services on regional bus routes in 2026, according to information on the Legal Acts Portal. ATD estimates indicate that maintaining the route network at the 2025 level and complying with existing contract terms requires at least €9.19 million more in state funding for regional bus transport.
It has also been reported that on December 9 last year, the government decided to allocate €3.933 million to cover public transport service providers’ losses, compensating for losses and railway infrastructure use in 2025.
As previously reported, on August 12 last year, public transport carriers held a protest outside the Cabinet of Ministers, urging the government to compensate for cost increases caused by unpredictable extraordinary circumstances. On September 16, carriers organized the protest action “One Hour Without Public Transport” to draw attention to insufficient funding in the sector.
Carriers have demanded compensation for 10% of losses incurred under long-term contracts due to extraordinary circumstances during the period from July 1, 2022 to August 31, 2025.
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