site.btaPrime Minister Orders Check into State Subsidies for Carriage of Passengers in Small Villages

February 7 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov ordered
Thursday the Transport, IT and Communications Ministry to
conduct a check in the payment of subsidies for the service of
public carriage of passengers in less populated and remote
areas. Borissov held a meeting with Transport Minister Rossen
Zhelyazkov and Magdalena Miltenova, chairperson of the
Confederation of Bus Carriers, the government's information
service said.

Borissov ordered checks into all concrete cases on the topic
revealed by the mass media.

Bus carriers had threatened to hold a protest rally on February
18 to make the government heed their grievances, related to the
payment of tolls by bus operators, the maintenance of
loss-making bus lines in remote areas, the grey sector in
carriage of passengers, among others.

Borissov said at the meeting that the subsidies have increased
but there are dissatisfied people. The Prime Minister said that
the model needs to be changed towards more fairness and
responsibility in subsidizing public bus services, not just by
the State but also by the municipalities. Borissov demanded
concrete measures against the grey sector in transport. RY/ZH

/СН/