The road passenger transport associations of Asturias (CAR, ASTRA and ASVIPYMET) have requested the Regional Government’s Ministry of Rural Affairs and Territorial Cohesion to adopt compensatory measures to alleviate the serious situation in which coach companies find themselves as a result of the rise in the price of diesel.
These associations show that the price of diesel continues its climb and has reached a new historical record in Spain last weekstanding at 1,496 euros/litre, which represents a rise of more than 51% since May 2020 and 36.4% since January 2021.
The Asturias road passenger transport associations (CAR, ASTRA and ASVIPYMET) consider that this situation of constant rise in energy prices, which has been maintained in recent times, which is also now aggravated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russiais causing serious damage to transport in general and decisively weighing down the slow recovery of the sector, already hit very significantly by the pandemic suffered.
From CAR, ASTRA and ASVIPYMET it is recalled that the sector (indispensable for mobility, territorial cohesion and the transformation towards sustainability) “suffers a dramatic situation”, since the fuel crisis is added to levels of demand for travelers that are still far from those of 2019.
Likewise, CAR, ASTRA and ASVIPYMET join the national confederation of the sector (CONFEBUS) in requesting urgent measures from the General State Administration to alleviate this unsustainable situation, consisting of the implementation of a series of economic compensations, as they do in other countries around us.
This demand is in line with the recommendations of the European Commission urging Member States to take the necessary measures to compensate the sectors most affected by the increase in energy prices, measures such as regulated prices, energy bonuses, subsidies, reductions tax, VAT or state aid.
In relation to the autonomous community, they request compensatory measures capable of mitigating the situation of the Asturian road passenger transport sector, already very weakened as a result of the pandemic.
As well as measures capable of guaranteeing the profitability of contracts that allow the sustainability of the sector and the economic rebalancing of public transport service contracts.
The Asturias road passenger transport associations (CAR, ASTRA and ASVIPYMET) insist that the bus is a key sector for the Asturian economy and a strategic actor for society as it guarantees mobility and ensures access to basic services of the welfare state, such as health, education or work and is a key link in the chain and tourist offer, which in Asturias has more than 4000 workers, between direct and indirect jobs; jobs that in the case of not being able to reverse this situation, could be at risk, with companies being forced to propose ERTEs as the only possible way out of their dramatic situation.