Entrance fee to the centre of Riga is populism, said Mayor of Riga Vilnis Ķirsis, commenting on the suggestion from opposition politician Ainārs Šlesers.
Šlesers previously suggested on social networks that Riga centre should introduce an entry fee of EUR 3 for motorists whose place of residence is not registered in the capital city. Public transport services, on the other hand, could be made free of charge for all passengers, he suggested.
Ķirsis said that by adopting such a measure, many quiet areas close to Riga’s centre could become enormous parking lots. Motorists would then drive all the way to the pay zone, leave their vehicles and then use free public transport services to get to the centre.
Public transport company LLC Rīgas satiksme and all of Riga’s residents would suffer from this. Buses, tramways and trolleybuses would become overfilled and stop being attractive alternatives to private transportation.
Riga residents who can afford it, will switch to private cars, replacing the other motorists who would start being charged for entry to the city centre.
The municipal public transport company would lose state grant, which currently is more than EUR 10 million, said Ķirsis.
He emphasised that as a result, one car flow would be replaced by another, other negative consequences would occur and there would be no benefits. Therefore, he called such a suggestion populism.