The government team maintains that it wants to recover the line “as soon as possible” and that it is working on a new specification
In July it will be two years since the urban bus stopped touring the streets of Cieza. The until then concessionary company, Ziezar Autocares del Segura, stopped providing the service citing economic losses. From that moment on, the Consistory began to prepare a new contest that was published at the end of 2021. However, no firm in the sector saw the specifications as attractive, so the process was abandoned.
Neighborhood complaints are accentuated as the weeks go by. Older citizens are the ones who suffer most from the absence of this service, as they do not have their own vehicle and do not have someone to take them, for example, to the Hospital de la Vega Lorenzo Guirao, located two kilometers from the town centre. They insist that “it has been two years without the service and we have a lot of money spent on taxis. We have also made our children lose many hours of work by taking us to the doctor, “they lament.
The block opposition has been insisting for months on “the need to start up the service as soon as possible.” Thus, they accuse the local government of “imposing leonine conditions on potential dealers with practically unaffordable bases.” The PP spokesman, Manuel Egea, considers “incredible that in these times we have gone back so much.” For its part, Cs denounces that “the socialist government team has eliminated the subsidy of 45,000 euros that had been allocated in the new contest, a fact that indicates that they do not plan to provide the service again this year.”
THE NEIGHBORS
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Manuel Penalva
«There are many older people who need the bus to go to the street market on Wednesdays» -
Juana Motorcycles
“We have gone back a long way; the lack of service affects the majority of citizens» -
Gabriel Bernal
«It seems unbelievable that after so many years they take away our transport, Cieza being a fairly large municipality»
Criticism also comes from transport companies. Pascual Lozano, manager of Ziezar Autocares del Segura, points out that his firm «decided not to attend the new contest because the conditions were unaffordable. I have not had news of the plans of the government team. He insists that, today, “the City Council must be aware that, if it wants to recover the urban bus service, it has to assume a deficit.”
Price increase
According to the City Council, “a review of the specifications and a rethinking of the service is being carried out, in which the rise in prices derived from the war in Ukraine will also have to be taken into account,” said the Councilor for Finance, Antonio Ignacio Martinez-Real.
To questions from LA VERDAD, the municipal official announced that “in a few weeks the bus stops will be remodeled with the installation of new canopies. Our intention is to recover this service as soon as possible for the good of all ciezanos ».
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