Viana-Porto bus will cost users more than 200 euros per month, but the Chamber guarantees reimbursement

The Viana do Castelo City Council today guaranteed “direct reimbursement” to users of the Viana do Castelo-Porto bus, after the carrier began charging the full price of the ticket without the municipal discount, alleging lack of payment from the municipality.

In information signed by the councilor for Mobility, dated April 24, to which Lusa had access today, the municipality refers to the “unilateral option” of carriers from the AVIC group to “terminate the benefit of social tariff reduction to support transport public”, presenting as a solution “direct payment”, by “bank transfer”, after a request to the services.

Frequent passengers on the Viana do Castelo-Porto express bus, who are demanding a “low-cost pass”, today asked for a meeting with the Minho council, after being informed by the company of the “end of municipal support for those trips”, which would mean “a monthly expense of 286 euros, in most cases plus 30 or 40 euros for the Andante pass for travel in the Porto region”.

In January, Viana do Castelo City Council reduced the amount of support given to users of this bus from 67% to 40%, and since then passengers have complained about the increase from 88 to 200 euros per month in the monthly cost of travel.

In a notice made available to passengers, to which Lusa had access, the carrier says that “it has been selling discounted tickets without having yet received from the Viana do Castelo City Council the part corresponding to the discount applied since November 2023”.

“For the year 2024, the company continued to apply the discounts without having formalized the agreement to maintain the discount”, adds the carrier in the notice to users.

Questioned by Lusa about the specific case of the Expresso Viana do Castelo-Porto bus, the municipality explains that “the company was offering discounts but, by unilateral decision, informed that it intends to stop doing so, so the municipality of Viana do Castelo will, from now on, directly reimburse the amount.”

In the informative note from the councilor for Mobility, the Chamber ensures that the 40% benefit remains but, “in order not for users to be harmed” with the “unilateral option” of the AVIC group, a “direct support” estimated “at a value total in the order of six thousand to 10 thousand euros/month”.

“This value depends on the passes requested, proof of which must be submitted to the Chamber”, he adds.

The municipality also clarifies that “each person interested in maintaining the 40% benefit on the social pass must contact the Chamber or make the request by email”.

Expresso bus passengers demand “a solution that allows mobility on public transport under conditions of fair fares with those practiced in most of the country”.

On Tuesday, the mayor of Viana do Castelo guaranteed that the municipality would pay, in 2023, double what it received from the Government under public transport support programs.

Luís Nobre was speaking about a statement from the AVIC group, which includes the companies Transcunha – Transportes Rodoviários de Viana, Auto Viação do Minho and António dos Prazeres da Silva & Filho, in which it was announced “the suspension of discounts on social pass tariffs and road transport titles on urban and interurban lines in Viana do Castelo, citing a debt owed by the municipality of 530 thousand euros”.

In March, the mayors of Porto and Viana do Castelo sent a solution for the interregional bus to the Porto Metropolitan Area and the Alto Minho Intermunicipal Community (CIM), pledging to support it financially.

In January, the Alto Minho CIM explained that “express passenger transport services that are currently on the liberalized market cannot be financed through PART [Programa de Apoio à Redução Tarifária]”.