The Government analyzes
maintaining the freezing of public transport fares
- trains and buses - in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA)
during May
. That way, it would have a
break from inflation
, which will also be overloaded by increases in natural gas and electric energy.
On the other side of the account,
the national State, the City and the province of Buenos Aires should provide more money in subsidies
to guarantee the normal functioning of the buses and
avoid yet another strike
- or "withholding of tasks" like the one that occurred on Thursday 11.
"In principle there is no adjustment planned for May," an official source commented to
Clarín
, who asked if the inflation update of up to 51.6% in train and bus fares would be applied next month, in accordance with what is established. by article 11 of Resolution 5/2024 of the Ministry of Transportation.
If the adjustment were implemented,
the minimum bus ticket in the City and Greater Buenos Aires (GBA) should jump from $270 to $409.32
-at most-, and the train ticket, from $130 to $197.08 , always for those who have their SUBE card registered.
In the event that the Government extends the freeze - the last update was in February and the increase in bus fares accumulated 419% so far this year -
the Nation will have to grant more subsidies to sustain the operation of the system.
For this reason, the path is narrow and each alternative has an enormous cost: social, if the increases are paid by the users; economic, if they are covered with subsidies in the midst of fiscal adjustment; and political, if the Government does not recognize more expenses and forces workers and companies to prolong the salary conflict.
This week's strike had to do, once again, with this situation. According to the Argentine Association of Automotive Transport Entrepreneurs (AAETA), which represents the Metropol group, the second largest behind DOTA,
in March the "real" cost of a bus ticket was $1,198 -with VAT included-
.
Users pay a minimum of $270 with their fares and the State, with subsidies, another $354 per passenger to complete
$624, recognized by the Government.
For this reason, the private sector declares, they are going to lose $574 per ticket or $92,912.24 million per month, which is reflected in a "loss of quality of service, frequencies, security and renewal of units."
Within the cost structure recognized by the Government, the $624 per passenger would be enough to pay salaries to the drivers of $737,000 and not the $987,000 claimed by the Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA), the union that represents the workers of the sector.
In the coming days, the sector expects the publication of a new cost structure in which the State should commit to spending more on subsidies or, finally, move forward with increasing rates. If not,
the situation could become tense again starting on Thursday, April 25, when the UTA would resume forceful measures
.
According to what they say in the sector, the conflict could have been avoided with just $12.5 billion more ($250,000 to each of the 50,000 active drivers).
In the first 100 days of 2024,
the national State paid subsidies to public transportation by buses in AMBA for about $190,902.25 million
, channeled through the Transportation Infrastructure System Trust Fund (FFSIT), according to data from Open Budget.
Meanwhile, transfers to Trenes Argentinos added another $132,877.44 million, so the contraction in real terms - discounting the effect of inflation - is close to 60% year-on-year. The decrease corresponds to rate increases, but also to having stepped on payments.