The hunt for the “Portuguese” starts again with the checks of “private” teams too. The team that searches for smart people who want to use public transport without a season ticket or ticket will soon expand to new figures that the ATM will find outside the company.
In recent days one has been opened procedure for “the assignment of the travel document verification service and complementary activities”, a search to stipulate a framework agreement with a single operator that can increase the ability to find those who do not pay and create a deterrent effect that can change the trend. In 2023, there were 18,000 high fines on buses and trams: an average of 49 per day, including holidays and Sundays. There aren’t many. In the ZTL, therefore in the paid parking areas, there were 51,000 fines last year. But for that there is an ad hoc team of internal verifiers.
Returning to buses and trams, however, ATM’s idea is to expand the group of controllers. Therefore, the ATM employees who carry out this activity are no longer employed, but are supported by a group of external workers who will be “hired” through the tender. In reality there has already been a non-internal group of three verifiers working for the ATM for about ten months. Once what was defined by the Via La Farina company as “an experimental phase” was concluded, the tender was launched which should increase the ability to discover the “Portuguese”.
The company that wins the tender will be offered a two-year contract for a total amount of 776,755 euros which however has a very large portion (551 thousand euros) not subject to reduction because it is the value of the labor. But the company will also receive a variable portion of revenue. This is the amount calculated as a maximum percentage of 50% that it can withhold from the sums collected with sanctions issued on board and collected within 60 days.
Read the complete article in the paper edition of Gazzetta del Sud – Messina
