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Nation and CABA close an agreement for the transfer of 31 Buenos Aires bus lines: they hope to postpone ticket increases and avoid strikes - Infobae
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Nación y CABA cierran un acuerdo por el traspaso de 31 líneas de colectivos porteñas: esperan postergar aumentos del boleto y evitar paros
En las próximas horas se conocerá la letra chica del Acta Acuerdo que permitirá una transición “ordenada” del sistema debido a un puente de diálogo que se abrió en los últimos días y continúo el fin de semana. Disputa por subsidios y por la coparticipación
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In the next few hours, the fine print of the Agreement Act will be known, which will allow an “orderly” transition of the system due to a dialogue bridge that was opened in recent days and continued over the weekend. Dispute over subsidies and co-participation
By Augustin Maza
In the next few hours, the transfer of management of the 31 bus lines in Buenos Aires will be decided (NA)
The national government reached an agreement in principle with the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) to formalize in the next few hours the transfer of the 31 bus lines that circulate exclusively in Buenos Aires territory , according to what Infobae learned from consultations with official sources familiar with the conversations. The details will be known in the next few hours but it is known that the agreement would allow to postpone, at least for the moment, an imminent increase in the ticket paid by users and avoid a possible affectation of the service. In parallel, there is a dispute over $8.5 billion in subsidies .
In recent days, a political bridge was opened that allowed for a dialogue between officials in charge of the Ministry of Transport of the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo , and their peers under the command of the head of Government, Jorge Macri, which extended over the weekend. Both parties are currently finalizing the fine print of an Agreement Act that will be signed in the next few hours and which must then be ratified by the City Legislature.
Specifically, Caputo will transfer to Macri all powers over the 31 bus companies that operate exclusively in the City, that is, the power to define routes, frequencies and fares for these lines. The work of these days was focused on ensuring that this process was carried out in an “orderly” manner, so that a “transition period” of up to six months could be opened and it would not be carried out in a hasty manner as the national government was agitating for.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, and the Head of Government of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macri
As reported by this media , the National Executive has the decree ready to make official the changes based on a modification in Decree 656/1994 that brought the Buenos Aires transportation system into its orbit, that is, the power to define rates, routes, frequencies and subsidies. The norm is also based on the transfer that was made in 2012 of the subway system, in that same sense.
"If there is an agreement between the two governments, the discussion on ticket prices could be postponed until later and for the moment there would be no change in the fare paid by passengers," said a source from the Buenos Aires administration.
The main doubt in the sector was what would happen with the subsidies that the 31 lines receive to compensate for the difference between the ticket paid by users and the “real rate” needed to sustain the system. CABA provides 55% of these transfers and the Nation the remaining 45% ($7 billion). Caputo has announced on several occasions that from September he will cut this subsidy to “equalize” the situation of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) with that of the interior, where since February there has been no more transfer of funds.
The City explains that the “real” cost of the ticket on the 31 lines mentioned is $863, of which $371 is paid by the user, while the Nation subsidizes $271 and the other $221 is contributed by CABA. The agreement would prevent the fare from jumping to $642 or the companies deciding to reduce the service due to less funds.
National bus lines will continue to be subsidized
The other problem is that the other 103 national lines in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) , which have a terminal in CABA and another in the province of Buenos Aires , will continue to be subsidized by the Nation, so the risk was that in the same city there could be 31 lines with higher rates . This is a point that the companies are also warning about.
Another conflict is the integrated ticket of the SUBE Network , for which CABA should assume another $1.5 billion monthly. The benefit is applied automatically at the time of the trip only for registered cards: the first is paid at full fare, the second with a 50% discount and the third with a 75% discount. In a range of two hours, up to five transport combinations can be made, but there must be a minimum time interval of 2 minutes and the transport of another person cannot be paid for. The buses that circulate exclusively in the province of Buenos Aires stopped being covered by this discount as of this Sunday, which required some $6.5 billion monthly, because the city administration decided not to take charge of the funds that the Nation cut.
Caputo's premise is to "equalize the situation that exists in all the other provinces of the country with Ciudad y Provincia" as he explained this Wednesday in radio statements, in search of a total savings of $15,000 million per month due to the elimination of subsidies in the AMBA. The national government eliminated subsidies for lines in the interior in February.
In the background is the dispute between both parties over co-participation. The Ministry of Economy of the Nation began to transfer $20,000 million pesos per week to CABA to comply with part of the Court's ruling that forced the Nation to return the funds taken in 2020 by Alberto Fernández . However, Macri claims $5 billion pesos in debts that would have accumulated due to transfers in the last 48 months.
