PESCARA. There is controversy after the regional council decided to increase the cost of bus tickets by 20 cents. A decision that has sparked a revolt by the opposition, while for the center-right majority this would be in line with inflation.
The former gubernatorial candidate for the centre-left, Luciano D’Amico, attacks: “The increase in transport costs will have an estimated amount between 4 and 5 million euros per year and will be borne mainly by those citizens, students, elderly people and commuters, who use public transport more and have been hit by inflation which has already significantly eroded their purchasing power. The Abruzzo Region, instead of providing support to the weakest segments of the regional population, limits their right to mobility , compresses their right to health, requesting cuts and recovery plans from the local health authorities, does not provide any support to the production categories including, for example, the winemakers affected by the drama of downy mildew”.
For the centre-left leader, “it seems clear that the funds deriving from the increase in tickets, which will flow into the Region’s coffers, will certainly not be used to strengthen transport, which in Abruzzo presents notable critical issues, but will cover, for example, the increase from 250 to 500 thousand euros for the Night of the Snakes; the purchase of an unspecified D’Annunzio library for the Municipality of Pescara (for which there is no appraisal and whose contents we do not know) or the transfer of bivouacs alpine”.
Criticism also from Erika Alessandrini, new councilor of the 5 Star Movement, who states: “Unfortunately it seems like we are faced with an American show where you buy a suitcase at auction without knowing its contents and only after taking it home will you find out if it was a real deal or a dud. This is a bit of the drama with which we see the resources of the citizens of Abruzzo being administered by the regional center-right: without foresight, without clarity, without reasonableness”.
The Region, however, defends itself through the words of the transport councillor, Umberto D’Annuntiis: “The measure approved in relation to the fares of local public transport by road is limited to the adjustment of the fares to the inflation rate. The last update, also established by a council resolution, dates back to 25 August 2016. Therefore, no additional increase has been foreseen with respect to the inflation rate recorded from 2016 to 2024. This, unlike what was decided, in August 2016, by the D’Alfonso council which had arranged additional increases, with respect to the inflation rate, from 10 to 15%. It follows that, in the five years from 2011 to 2016, the overall increase was 39%. The adjustment, inevitable as we have all seen how the increase in energy and fuel costs has had an impact in recent years, was structured in in a way that has a minimal impact on users, with particular attention to the most vulnerable”.
These are minimum increases ranging from €0.05 to €0.20, depending on whether they are urban, interurban, ordinary tickets and season tickets. “In comparison with the other Regions, which have already approved the adjustments – underlines D’Annuntiis – the fares approved by this council are all below the national average which provides €1.50 for the ordinary journey compared to €1.30 € for Abruzzo; €4.80 for the daily urban ticket compared to €3.20 for Abruzzo; €44.00 for a nominative monthly pass compared to €35.20 for Abruzzo”.
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