Ministry wants to raise Pärnu County bus tickets by 66 percent
The Ministry of Regional Affairs wants to increase the monthly bus ticket price of Pärnu County lines by 66 percent. The Pärnu County Public Transport Center said the price increase will not raise much money.
The ministry wants to raise the price of a monthly card in Pärnu County from €15 to €25.
"It's not very pleasant, especially for those with less money. I wonder how they'll manage," bus passenger Aleksandra told Monday's "Aktuaalne kaamera."
Andres Ruubas, head of the public transport department of the Ministry of Regional Affairs, said this will standardize the price across the country.
"In other counties in Estonia where they switched from free to paid public transport, the monthly fare is now €25. Our proposal is that Pärnu should also join the unified system with all county lines, aligning its monthly ticket price with those of other counties," he explained.
Andrus Kärpuk, head of the Pärnu County Public Transport Center, stressed it did not set the price. "Initially, a proposal was made to consider the possibility of us making such a suggestion. We don't set the prices ourselves; the price increase is determined by the minister," he said
Kärpuk said that at a time when other counties had free rides, the Pärnu County Public Transport center earned €3 million in revenue for the state with paid rides. According to him, the current price increase would not bring much money to the country.
"If we look at it, we might get around €130,000 a year from that, but considering the massive gap — tens of millions — in the state budget, it doesn't solve any problem at all," said Kärpuk.
According to the Ministry, there is a shortfall of up to €46 million in next year's public transport subsidy, but it is still too early to talk about the sources of its funding. The main thing is still a unified system would allow people to travel across the country.
However, Kärpuk said a system could be created without raising the price.
"For example, it would be possible to establish a separate product for people who need monthly tickets for multiple counties. Alternatively, in counties where the monthly ticket is more expensive, those passengers could travel with our cheaper Pärnu County ticket if it could be resolved through software adjustments," he commented.
Since Pärnu County is the only county in Estonia where urban and rural lines have a single ticket system, according to Kärpuk, an increase in the price of a monthly card for rural lines would also mean an increase in the price of a monthly card for city lines in Pärnu.
"With this ticketing system, we can't raise some prices while leaving others unchanged. If we want to proceed with a unified ticketing system and increase prices in line with rising costs, this decision must be made by the city council," said Kärpuk.
The ministry wants to introduce the price increase from the new year. The transport center promised to give feeback in November.
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Editor: Merili Nael, Helen Wright
Source: Aktuaalne kaamera