Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos and Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri have signed an agreement that will see the transfer of control for 31 bus lines to the City government.
The deal, inked Tuesday in the presence of President Javier Milei, will see City Hall take full charge of the totality of subsidies and management of the bus lines as from September 1.
Macri said the move would “permit bus fares to be maintained – for the moment – at current levels,” indicating that price increases will be coming further down the line
“It’s a day advancing the autonomy of the City of Buenos Aires,” said the mayor. “After very hard, in-depth and professional work, together with the presidential team, we have arrived at a good system for advancing in the transfer of responsibilities.”
City Hall will also take charge of the Red SUBE programme for the 31 lines, which it will administer after the City Legislature formally endorses the transfer.
“Discounts for [multiple] trips will be maintained with a whole line of work to improve the system of public transport in the city of Buenos Aires. The important thing is that fares will not change, with the City fully assuming the subsidies, which are now approximately two-thirds of the operational costs of the system,” remarked Macri.
“We have defined a time for the transfer through joint work. This is a system where the responsibilities are shared by the national, City and Buenos Aires Province government. People climb aboard a bus without knowing who manages each one,” he added.
City Hall confirmed that the agreement will permit existing 50-percent and 75-percent discounts for trips combining those lines within two hours of travel.
Macri distanced himself from the decision of Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, highlighting that the maintenance of the integrated fare constitutes “an important difference” between both jurisdictions.
"There is an important difference between what we are doing and what the Province is doing. We are subsidising the fare but also maintaining the integrated fare so that there is no discrimination against those coming into the city of Buenos Aires,” he concluded.
City Hall officials explained that 66 percent of the cost of the fare will be subsidised with the intention of correcting it in the future, implying a monthly cost of seven billion pesos coming out of “reprioritisations” on which City Hall is working.
“The priority today seems to us to help the middle and working classes who do not have the capacity to absorb doubled bus fares,” argued the mayor.
Milei’s La Libertad Avanza administration said that it would maintain the Red SUBE programme across all inter-jurisdictional lines, i.e. those crisscrossing City and Province, while continuing the ‘Tarifa Social’ heavily subsidised rate for low-earners.
The agreement marks a new chapter in the fluctuating relationship between the national and City governments, which are at cross purposes over the payment of federal revenue-sharing funds.
Even if this is a central issue for the City Mayor, Macri revealed that he did not push his claims during a meeting with President Milei.
"Federal revenue-sharing is being paid through a mechanism which is still being agreed but since August 1, the national government is transferring funds similar to what daily automatic transfers would be.
“The national government is making an important effort because they are not minor sums. I’d prefer another mechanism, and I’ve taken that to the Supreme Court, but at the end of the day, these are minor technical discussions," maintained Macri.
The point of conflict lies in the form of paying the arrears. Every Friday the government transfers a percentage less than the 2.95 percent ordered by the Supreme Court while the City calls for daily payments with the intention of increasing the percentage to 3.5 percent.
PRO sources assured that the weekly meetings between their party chairman Mauricio Macri and the President at the Quinta de Olivos presidential residence made the signature of the agreement possible, transferring the bus lines to close one of the conflicts between the two sides.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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