Bus drivers announce that they will propose improving the service and will reject the increase in fares at a technical table with the Mayor’s Office

The bus drivers will participate in the technical table in which the price of the ticket will be debated, and they announced that they will oppose the Bs 3 charge, because they see no justification for raising the price, in addition to proposing that the service be improved.

Jhonny Contreras, secretary of relations of the Santa Cruz Departmental Mixed Salaried Drivers Federation, said that the meeting on Wednesday, October 9, will be historic, because, For the first time, drivers will participate at a technical table in which the price of the ticket will be debated; but he clarified that they were included thanks to the fact that they requested it from the Mayor’s Office of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Contreras announced that they are going with two defined proposals; The first has to do with the categorical rejection of the collection of Bs 3, They consider that there is no justification for raising the price of the ticket and that this measure will only benefit the owners of the buses.

“This cost study with which they seek to increase the price of the ticket He is abusive, lying and rigged. The increase in the fare has never favored the drivers and would only benefit the owners, because if it is approved, they will raise our rent and charge us more expensive fines,” he indicated in contact with EL DEBER.

The driver leader indicates that the public service has not been improved, which is why he points out that there are no reasons to increase the price of the ticket. Furthermore, he adds that By charging Bs 2, bus owners receive juicy income, Some lines, such as those that cover the ring routes, ask drivers for up to Bs 1,100 daily rent.

“To do a study of ticket costse should consider the line section, because the maintenance cost is not the same for all micros. The lines that run through the first, second, third and fourth rings give daily rents of up to 1,100 bolivianos and spend a minimum amount of maintenance; “These lines should charge Bs 1.5 because they also travel a short section,” he explained.

The second proposal of the microros has to do with the improvement of the service that would benefit to the population and also to the drivers themselves, as they seek to demand that their labor rights, established in the General Municipal Autonomous Law of Urban, Comprehensive, Sustainable and Safe Mobility 1216, be fulfilled.

“We want the service to be modernized, eliminating the criminal system, where bus owners only seek to earn more money, regardless of the fact that we, the drivers, work more than 18 hours a day with vehicles that have already fulfilled their useful life, since they are between 25 to 30 years traveling the streets and avenues of Santa Cruz ”, he emphasized.

Contreras asks that they be purchased new vehicles for public use and to stop purchasing motorized vehicles from 2015 that are adapted to transport passengers. “They buy buses and equip them with seats, handrails and only one door, when public service vehicles have two doors,” he added.

The technical table will take place at 9:00 this Wednesday, at the College of Engineers, located in the Urbari area, and municipal officials, bus owners, drivers and union members will participate.