When there are no funds, there is no plan B. This was stated by Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev regarding the protest of public transport employees.
„I expect from them not only demands, but also specifics - how they plan to achieve this without harming other systems in the city. For me, saying that you have reduced the fare from 400 to 300 leva is not a concession”, commented Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev. He assured that the matriculation exams will be held normally despite the lack of public transport.
„We analyzed how many children had difficulty getting to school during the past days when there was no transport. We are working closely with the Ministry of Education and Science. A plan has been made - everyone will be helped to be transported. Taxis and volunteers have been involved. We will not let the children pay the bill for our inability to reach a consensus. When there are no funds, there is no plan B for fulfilling the protesters' demands, Terziev explained.
“We will not talk about anything different from a fixed salary to the basic one and the same for everyone. There must be a justification for where the money will come from. I proposed a 100 leva increase in salaries and a 100 percent increase in the bonus for electric transport and motor transport. This will result in a transport framework with a 55 million leva deficit. If the state pays 20 million for metro security, this means that from this proposal, which everyone considers so unacceptable, we are leaving with 35 million leva in the red. From there on, anything on top adds to the sum”, concluded the mayor.
We recall that Sofia has been without ground transport for the sixth day. And this morning, buses, trams and trolleybuses remain in the depots, while workers in the sector continue their protest for higher wages.
After the failure of talks between the protesters and Mayor Vasil Terziev on Thursday, at 08:00 this morning, representatives of the transport unions entered the Municipality building in anticipation of negotiations with the capital's mayor. At 14:30, the capital's Transport Commission will consider the draft economic framework for transport in search of a way out of the crisis.