Five intermunicipal communities have ‘missed the bus’ when it comes to reducing the cost of public transport travel passes on April 1.
The Algarve, Terras de Trás os Montes, Alentejo Litoral, Leiria and Tâmega e Sousa all signed up to the initiative but for reasons unexplained can only introduce the price cuts in May.
Says Observador, all the others are ‘on board’ for the initiative aimed at ‘cutting down on C02 emissions’ at the same time as helping family budgets.
PART (standing for ‘programme to support the reduction of public transport tariffs’) involves €104 million made available through the government’s environmental fund (click here)
The 21 intermunicipal communities will be receiving a total of €23.2 million, and each will contribute 2.5% of the value transferred by the State.
Say reports, the government’s objective is to persuade a further 100,000 people to start using public transports, reducing C02 emissions by 79,000 tons.
Criticism of the plan has explained that the strategy cannot succeed unless ‘better public transport links’ are included – and for now – in the Algarve at least – there has been little discussion about this can be achieved.
