Due to the constant rise in the price of fuel and, mainly, to the exclusion of public transport companies in Asunción from the passenger subsidy system, a readjustment of the price of the municipal public transport ticket in Asunción has been resolved, on an exceptional basis. and temporary, in the sum of Gs. 500, an amount that will be added to the price of the current ticket, being set at the sum of Gs. 2,800.
This increase will take effect tomorrow, Saturday, March 12, and will affect public transport lines 1, 6, 9, 13, 13-2, 16-2, 37 B and 37 C.
In return, the commitment to renew 10% per year of the bus fleet and the normalization of hourly frequencies to the transport sector will be required, with which the service to users will be guaranteed.
The Transit Directorate of the Municipality of Asunción states that the cost of the ticket is determined taking into account that the permit companies of Asunción are not part of the public transport passenger subsidy system, as other companies operating in the Area do. Metropolitan, which in fact and in law, generates an inequality before the rules that regulate the matter, resulting in the passenger of Asunción being harmed.
In addition, through Municipal Board Resolution No. 347/22, an Inter-institutional Public Transportation Committee has been created to initiate the mediation and negotiation process with the Executive Power, to obtain the passenger subsidy.
The Municipal Board, through its Ordinance No. 4/22, dated February 7, 2022, has provided “Art. 1: Repeal Article 12 of Ordinance No. 66/16” which read: “Establish that for the operation of air-conditioned buses and conventional buses, within the itineraries used by the permit companies of the Municipality of Asunción, the cost of The ticket will be established by decree of the Executive Branch for the public passenger transport service of the permit holder companies of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, which provide service in the Metropolitan Area of Asunción”.
It should be noted that the measure is exceptional and temporary, until the reincorporation of the Asunción permit companies into the system of subsidies for public transport passengers, for which the Municipal Government urges the Central Government to specify said reincorporation through its Vice Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance.
The main technical justifications for this measure are:
The effect of the Pandemic, since its beginning in March 2020, reduced up to 80% of the number of Passengers using the Public Transport Service. Later it went to 60%, then to 50% and today there is still a decrease of 40%.
There were five increases in the price of fuel, in this period of time.
The implementation and use of collection, through the Electronic Ticketing System, implies a cost of around (Gs. 200) two hundred for each ticket charged by magnetic card.
The lack of updating the amount of the ticket in Asunción dates from the beginning of the ticket subsidy, that is, from the year 2013.
