The Vice President of the Generalitat, Jordi Puigneró, has guaranteed that the Government will compensate for the 30% reduction in the price of public transport decreed by the Spanish executive on regional season tickets to reach a 50% reduction. He announced this in statements to the press this Saturday after learning of the measures approved by the Council of Ministers to deal with inflation. The Spanish government has decided to reduce the price of state transport tickets to 50% and up to 30% regional and local, leaving in the hands of these administrations an even bigger discount. Puigneró explained that the Generalitat will compensate for “the missing section” despite considering it “populist” and “electoralist”.
“Lowering the ticket price is more typical of populists, of easy solutions, but it is not the solution that is asked of a politician who should be a statesman,” he said. For this reason, he called on the State to transfer the Rodalies de Catalunya service in its entirety, as “having a reasonable ticket price is something important in terms of public transport, but it is much more important to have a good service”.
He also lamented that the state executive did not inform them before the decision to lower the price of public transport, which in Catalonia is shared by the State, the Generalitat and the municipalities: “We have not been notified of a measure such as this affecting the finances and sustainability of public transport budgets “.
The Minister of Territory and Digital Policies, who estimated the impact of the reduction on public coffers at 22 million euros, regretted that the State had not taken over the “hole” caused by the increase in the price of energy for transport operators. “Someone will have to pay for it,” he warned.