May Day fare increases

PUBLIC TRANSPORT fares are set to rise by 3.7 per cent from May 1st.The rises announced recently by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication is based on the rate of inflation over the past three months and variation in the price of fuel for the period September 2004 – March 2005.The last price revision, that took place in October of last year, saw a rise of 2.9 per cent. This was based solely on an evaluation of fuel costs – a rise that took place in spite of the fact that in the first third of 2004, public passenger transport had already increased by 3.9 per cent.The Union of General Workers (UGT) have issued a statement condemning the rise as “unsustainable and unacceptable” on account of the fact that it greatly exceeds the rate of inflation and because “it fails to take into account the necessities of social development.”