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Romanian Transporters Ended Protest In Bucharest Two Hours Early

About 200 road transporters in Romania’s capital city Bucharest and surrounding Ilfov county, who protested Thursday in the Constitutiei Square near the Parliament Palace Thursday against the mayoralty’s decision to resume public transport in Ilfov, ended their protest two hours earlier.
Romanian Transporters Ended Protest In Bucharest Two Hours Early
22 ian. 2009, 13:39, English

 

Transporters ended their protest at around GMT 1100, although their action was authorized until GMT 1300. they said they would resume protests in two weeks unless their problems are solved.
 
Transporters submitted a memo with their requests at the Government, City Hall, and the Ministry of Transport.
 
Tarnsporters said that since December 2008, when the Bucharest public transport company resumed routes in Ilfov county, private transport operators registered losses of 60%.
 
The secretary general of the federation of Romanian transport employers, Virgil Casmoiu, told MEDIAFAX that the activity of the public transport company in Ilfov is illegal, because it didn’t bid in public auctions for the attribution of transport routes and doesn’t pay any other fiscal dues in that respect.
 
"We’ll be back in two weeks with similar protests until problems are solved,” Casmoiu.
 
He added the mayoralty didn’t issue an authorization to allow transporters to march through the city.
 
Transporters had a meeting with Transport Ministry officials Wednesday and they were assured many of their issues would be solved in the upcoming two weeks federation president Ion Comusi said.
 
Transporters are displeased with the high number of taxi authorizations granted and the resuming of public transport between capital city Bucharest and surrounding Ilfov county, which puts private minibuses out of business.
 
Transporters demanded the annulment of a government decree that sets passenger transport routes between Bucharest and Ilfov are considered local routes. The federation said the respective routes had been attributed by public auction in April 2008 to private road transporters for five years.
 
Transporters said they invested hundreds of millions of euros to renew their car parks and many are now almost bankrupt after the public transport company, RATB, introduced buses on those routes. The public tar sport company, which receives subsidies from local authorities, charges lower ticket prices than private operators.
 
Comusi said transport operators in Ilfov already had to fire over 600 drivers.