Land transport remains blocked today, the metro is working, the Sofia Municipality announced.
For the sixth consecutive day today, buses, trams and trolleybuses in Sofia have not left the depots due to the protest of land transport employees.
The drivers' protest began on May 14 and will continue until the employees' demands are met, the unions announced. They are protesting for a salary increase of 400 leva from 01.03.2025, as well as for the provision of sanitary facilities and toilets, improved lighting, heating and work uniforms. Among the demands are also an increase in the cost of food from 15 leva to 20 leva, effective March 1, 2025.
Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev invites protesters to negotiations at the Sofia Municipality at 8:00 this morning, but only on condition that they start public transport. "I have no reason to talk to people who are holding an entire city hostage", the Sofia Mayor said yesterday.
However, the Federation of Transport Unions under the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) has not received an invitation for negotiations at 8:00 with the Sofia Mayor, and the information that this is their starting time is known only from his media appearances, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) announced yesterday. The federation's negotiating group will be in front of the Sofia Municipality building today at 7:45 a.m., waiting for the dialogue to continue.
Taxi companies and volunteers are ready to join in transporting high school students to Sofia for the matriculation exams, which are this week, Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev told BNT yesterday. He pointed out that a headquarters is working at the Ministry of Education and Science, and his team is ready for the negative option - the transport strike to continue until May 21 and May 23, when the state matriculation exams are held. Valchev noted that there are 11,000 high school graduates in Sofia, and after a survey by school principals, about 300 of them reported that they do not have alternative transportation for the matriculation exams.
The Ministry of Education and Science announced that it is expected to provide at least 60 buses by Wednesday to transport students and provosts for the matriculation exams in Sofia.
The Sofia Municipality also declared that it will mobilize all its resources to participate in ensuring the smooth movement of young people who need to get to their exams on time, the municipality assured.