The crisis in suburban transportation or metropolitan Uruguay continues to escalate in the face of what companies denounce as “economic asphyxiation” by the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MTOP); and whose only solution points to extra financing from the government for the sector that has been working “at a loss” for years.
After the announcement by the workers of Copsa Regarding the extension of the force measure throughout Thursday, carrying out the second consecutive day of strike, the Chamber of Metropolitan Transport Companies (Cestrame) He said the sector is “on the verge of an avoidable crisis.”
“Starting in 2008, salaries were equal to those of urban transport, which implied a 50% increase in wages. wage bill“, they argued in the first of two statements in which they referred to the situation of metropolitan transportation. “This increase in expenses was never compensated. On the other hand, the only source of income is the sale of tickets, which in turn decreased from 75 million annually to 46 million today,” they added.
In the statement, the group of companies made up of CITA, UCOT, Coetc, Cutcsa, Copsa, Comesa, Tala Pando, EOSA and Casanova holds responsible MTOP due to the excess of regulations on issues such as “rates, schedules, routes, frequencies”, something that does not give them “room for maneuver to rationalize services when they see that their income does not compensate their expenses.”
In this regard he also referred Javier Cardoso, general manager of Copsa, in dialogue with Radio Monte Carlo: “There is an impossibility that arises, which is transferred to us: we are totally regulated and we have no possibility of improving any variable to improve the equation, so that prevents us from having the options that any company in free market “could choose,” he considered, exemplifying with the fact that he must comply with all the services “even if we bring few or no one, and these services generate losses that accumulate.”
“This situation, known to the authorities, has not deserved due attention, other than from the President of the Republic, who understood the crisis we are going through,” added, for their part, the companies based in Cestrame. Likewise, they pointed out that from the portfolio directed by José Luis Falero They carry out “delays” due to which some companies “cannot meet their workers and/or suppliers, while it is extremely difficult for all of them to renew the fleet and incorporate technology into the units, consequently affecting the quality of the service.” ”.
“We can no longer wait, the solutions exist, we just need to implement them now,” the first statement closed.
A request for help from the authorities
In addition to holding the MTOP Due to the situation that the sector is going through, the metropolitan transport companies asked for both immediate solutions to repair the current conflict and in the medium and long term, to balance the revenue and cost structure which, from Cestrame, they assure that it is outdated, so “it has been working at a loss for years.”
In a second statement, the Chamber of Metropolitan Transport Companies recognized that the MTOP, with him Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP)assured that they would look for “a solution that contemplates the correction of rates of the sector, and the creation of a financial trust that balances and provides companies with resources to meet the payment of labor commitments, technological and fleet renewal.”
But the businessmen also demanded “a bridging advance in order to cover the most urgent needs.”
In this regard, Cardoso announced that the Executive Branch “is working on the creation of a loan bridge that allows financial flows to continue functioning while the definitive solution is sought to balance income with the expenses of suburban companies.”
Among the long-term alternatives being evaluated are the subsidy, a rate adjustmentthe cost rationalization or a “mix” of them. “We want there to be a equitable distribution of the resources destined for subsidies and that is what we are fighting for, and we consider that it is the most reasonable solution in this regard of not punishing users pockets“explained the general manager of Copsa.
“We are optimistic that in the next few hours some solution will be seen that will allow us to unblock this conflict and bring sanitation to the system,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
