Latvian opposition party National Alliance (NA) demands explanations from Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens as to his reasons for cancelling planned discounts for regional buses.
According to the party, the Ministry of Transport plans to end discounts for large families, 1st and 2nd group invalids and their aids, the politically repressed, children of pre-school and orphans for regional bus rides.
According to NA, discounts are currently provided to around 20% of passengers in Latvia.
Additionally, there are plans to reduce the number of state-funded bus trips in directions in which there are commercial bus operators.
According to NA, the number of bus trips the aforementioned groups of residents will be able to use with discounts will be reduced significantly, making their everyday life more complicated and expensive.
Former Minister of Transport, Saeima deputy Jānis Vitenbergs notes that when he was minister, he proposed the model that provided for maintaining discounts for less protected groups of residents. “The new management of the ministry has found a different “solution”. I still recall how difficult the negotiations were with the Ministry of Finance so that the National Alliance could adopt these discounts. It is unacceptable for there to be plans to refuse all this,” says Vitenbergs.
NA’s Saeima faction deputies decided to reach out to Briškens for an explanation as to the minister’s plans to abolish discounts for groups of residents, the routes that will be affected, how many commercial bus trips it is planned to deploy and how many state-funded buses are planned to be closed down. The minister is also asked to explain if the planned abolishing of discounts is justified, considering the impact this decision would have on a large number of Latvian residents.
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