During the passenger carriers’ protest action “One Hour Without Public Transport” on Tuesday, about 165 regional bus routes were disrupted, affecting up to 5,000 passengers, said Jānis Lapiņš, Chairman of the Board of the Road Transport Administration (ATD).
He noted that data on the affected routes is still being compiled. Current estimates show about 165 disrupted routes, though the number could rise by the end of the day. It is not yet clear how many were fully cancelled and how many were just delayed.
Lapiņš explained that ATD monitored the situation in bus terminals during the protest and observed frustration among passengers.
“According to rough estimates, about 5,000 passengers were affected, yet there was no significant increase in calls to ATD, so perhaps passengers had adapted to the situation,” he said.
He added that ATD will analyse all disrupted routes and apply fines where needed —
starting from about 70 euros for each violation, with higher penalties for repeated cases.
“All breaches will be assessed both daily and monthly, as all unfulfilled trips are summarised at the end of the month and fines are applied,” Lapiņš explained.
Asked about possible compromise with the carriers, he stressed that operators must continue fulfilling their contractual obligations, though talks are ongoing.
“These are public procurement contracts. If someone’s prices are indexed, it must be done within the framework of the contract. Unfortunately, the carriers are now putting both passengers and drivers in an uncomfortable situation,” Lapiņš said.
Passenger transport companies held the protest from 10:00 to 11:00
to draw attention to insufficient funding in the public transport sector.
Participants included Daugavpils autobusu parks, Talsu autotransports, Tukuma auto, Rēzeknes autobusu parks, VTU Valmiera, Norma-A (Ecolines), Liepājas autobusu parks, Nordeka, and Ventspils reiss.
By law, passengers are entitled to claim direct losses from carriers if delays or cancellations occur and they had purchased a ticket for the affected route.
Carriers are demanding 10% compensation for losses incurred under long-term contracts due to emergency conditions between the 1st of July 2022 and the 31st of August 2025.
According to VTU Valmiera,
this 10% increase in contract prices is the minimum needed to reduce losses and allow continued service.
The Public Procurement Law allows such amendments.
Based on all operators providing regional public transport services, projected losses in 2025 could reach 6.95 million euros, assuming no major fluctuations in fuel prices or wages in the second half of the year.
VTU Valmiera warns that without extra funding, companies will not be able to cover the gap, which threatens their solvency and the continuity of transport services.
ATD has said it will impose contractual penalties and withhold state compensation for missed or partially completed routes during the protest.
Earlier, on the 12th of August, passenger carriers had already protested outside the Cabinet of Ministers, urging the government to compensate for unforeseen cost increases caused by extraordinary circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Public Transport Council decided on the 4th of September that the subsidised regional bus network in 2026 will be reduced by 16% — from the planned 67.2 million km in 2025 to 56.15 million km.
Each part of the network will see cuts to routes or route segments with low profitability and few passengers.
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