The Marbella urban transport recorded in the past month of July more than 586,000 travelersa service that is provided free of charge for those registered and for which the City Council will adhere to the state decree that helps reduce the rate by 30%as reported on Monday by the Councilor for Transport, Emrique Rodríguez.
Thus, the trates for both the monthly subscription and the multi-trip ticket will be reduced by this amount from September 1 to December 31, after approving the local government board this Monday to start the procedures to join the State aid established by Royal Decree 11/2020 of June 25, by which certain measures are adopted and extended to respond to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine. Rodríguez has described the 30% discount on subscriptions as “insufficient and insignificant for the citizens of Marbella”as “have 100%” free urban transport service for those registered, being a measure that the government team has implemented since 2019 and for which it has allocated more than 18 million euros since then, according to the mayor. In this way, he has detailed that the monthly payment will cost from “36.37 to 25.46 euros”which will mean a “reduction of more than 10 euros”, while the tmultitrip tickets will be reduced from “0.83 to 0.58 euros” for relocation during the period of validity of the state aid. The measure will mainly benefit unregistered residents who cannot access free public transport. On the other hand, the municipal official has indicated that as the Ayuntamiento has already been providing free urban transport service since 2019, acceptance of the new ministerial order “does not require the modification of titles or travel cards“, emphasizing that the Government charges “a deposit and a prior payment” to provide this aid, but has assured that the Consistory “is not going to demand” these types of requirements. The municipal official has highlighted that the free urban transport in Marbella has benefited since 2019 a total of “10,824,000 travellers” thanks to the implementation of the “card of mobility, which “more than 72,500 inhabitants” enjoy, for which he has highlighted that “more than 81% of the trips made since 2019” have been made under this modality. The mayor has celebrated that the number of travelers continues to increase in this service, which during the month of July registered “more than 586,000 passengers” in the public transport network municipal, what “rrepresents a year-on-year increase of 20%” compared to the same period last year, with “100,000 more users” than in 2021, when there were “488,211 passengers”. The month-on-month comparison shows an increase of “12%”. On the other hand, the councilor has remarked that the City Council supports it with its own budget items “more than 85% of the cost of the public transport service” – being Avanza the concessionaire of the same-, and allocating “more than 18 million euros” since its commissioning in 2019. The councilor has thus assessed that the government measure is “insufficient“because with it he has indicated that the State”does not support the municipalities that bet on free” of urban public transport, highlighting the advantages that this entails in terms of “energy savings” and “sustainable mobility”. “discontent” of the Consistory for “not being sure” of how much the central government is going to allocate for this aid, which “forces the reduction of the subscription” by 30% to the municipalities without clarifying what amount is going to be allocated, emphasizing that “will distribute 100 million among more than 8,000 municipalities”.