Mealhada approves, but again contests compensation paid to transport operators

The Mealhada executive approved “the attribution of compensation for public service obligations” to the two transport operators, who belong to the same group, and who work in the municipality of Mealhada. The value exceeds 300 thousand euros and the president of the Municipality once again criticized the values ​​provided by the company and contested this compensation.

«We are talking about compensation for operators who respond to mobility in our municipality and which I continue to contest», began to say António Jorge Franco, president of the Chamber, giving as an example that «a bus that goes Barcouço – Coimbra passes right behind from another of the SMUTC (Coimbra urban service). It costs thousands of euros per month for the bus to run empty and pass one after the other. That’s what’s most difficult to see.”

The mayor also said that with the next operator – the target of an international public tender promoted by the Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region – «we will control the number of passengers, where they come from, where they enter and where they leave». «Then we will know where the money goes, because today we pay by the kilometer, but can anyone control that?», he also asks, comparing with other sectors: «This is what happens in healthcare where we ask for electricity bills and we can’t get them because we don’t there is no survey».

The compensation – an estimate based on the number of kilometers passing through the Mealhadense municipality justified by the “deficit” – paid to the two companies, belonging to the same group, in the amount of more than 300 thousand euros, was unanimously approved, with António Jorge Franco the to state, however, “I paid reluctantly, because by not paying, we could run the risk of not having transport for our students”.

Also Hugo Silva, councilor in the Municipality, emphasized the fact that this represents «current expenses of the Municipality», recalling that «this happens in Mealhada and in all other municipalities» where companies operate.

We remember that, last May, the municipality of Mealhada approved the same compensation, in a value close to 300 thousand euros, and, at that time, Filomena Pinheiro, vice-president of the Chamber, stated that it was “a national problem” and that it should be “ the role of the State to guarantee transport. The central administration did nothing and now it is the Municipalities that support the careers».

Monica Sofia Lopes