The Ministry of Transport plans to increase subsidies for public transport in Barcelona by 37%, while it will keep the financing for this item frozen in Madrid, Valencia and the Canary Islands. This is what emerges from the royal decree that regulates the direct granting of subsidies for the financing of regular public transport of passengers in the aforementioned locations, which the commission of undersecretaries of State analyzed last week with a view to its next approval in Council of Ministers.
The documentation to which this newspaper has had access sets the subsidy that the Barcelona Metropolitan Transport Authority will receive at 149.3 million euros (ATM) in charge of the 2024 financial year, 40 million more than the 109.3 that the entity that makes up the metro, bus, Rodalies and tram of Barcelona and its surroundings had been receiving during the last seven years. An amount that also places the ATM as the consortium that receives the most money at the state level, surpassing the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium (CRTM) that will receive the same 126.8 million euros as in the previous nine years despite the fact that it supports a higher level of users than its Catalan counterpart.
In the case of the Valencia Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATMV), the endowment increases very slightly: it will receive 40 million euros for the 38 that it has obtained from this item in the previous three years. However, it is an amount that was established in the draft royal decree before the occurrence of the natural disaster, which has devastated some of the main infrastructures of the Valencian province. To the consultation with the Ministry of Transport about whether a review of the amount budgeted for the ATMV has been proposed after the damage sustained by the DANAthis newspaper has not received a response.
The delivery of the money is conditional on the prior approval of a sustainable mobility plan by the beneficiary entities. The Government justifies the aid it has been granting to these entities since 2014 by “their importance as an essential public service for citizens.” The Executive, in fact, uses this argument to grant subsidies directly in the absence of Budgets approved in 2024. To do so, it uses an article of the ley General Subsidies which allows it to grant direct financing for reasons of public interest. The total contribution in charge of 2024 will be 363.7 million euros when in 2023 it was 321.7 million.
Allegations
The processing of the royal decree has had the favorable view of the Confebus bus employer, but during the process of allegations, it has reproached Transport for increasing the amount for some beneficiaries “while for others it has not been modified.” Likewise, in his letter he requested the development of a regulation for the financing of public transport that provides the system with a stable financial framework. A recommendation that was also made by ATMVwho also reprimanded Óscar Puente’s department for receiving the same allocation as in 2023, and asked for more funds to improve the quality of service.
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