Price of tickets will be increased for a part of Riga public transport passengers because of the government’s action
As the government has not agreed to co-operate with Riga City Council in funding public transport and there are obstacles for applying different payment conditions for Riga residents and others, new ticket prices will be introduced in Riga public transport as of February 1.
Riga City Council has no resources to keep on compensating the tariff of EUR 0.60 for all the passengers, regardless of whether they pay taxes in Riga or other local governments. The tariff of EUR 0.60, which is 50% of the service cost, was set as a temporary solution in 2014.
Price of one trip
As of February 1 the price of one trip in public transport will be equivalent to the cost of carrying one passenger calculated by „Rīgas satiksme”.
Pursuant to the Cabinet regulations, „Rīgas satiksme” has re-calculated the cost of carrying one passenger in public transport for 2015, taking into account the planned number of passengers as well as changes in prices of various resources (decrease in price of fuel, electricity etc.). Now it is EUR 1,175, which is less than EUR 1.20 set previously.
The calculation of the new fare (tariff) was submitted to Riga City Council’s Committee for the Licensing of Commercial Passenger Transportation Services.
As the amount EUR 1.175 causes significant technical problems in calculations, the final price of one trip is set at EUR 1.15.
Discounts and free tickets
Pursuing its socially responsible policy, Riga will keep all the existing tariff discounts and free tickets, but many numerous groups of residents will be granted new discounts by preserving the existing prices of tickets.
Now-working pensioners, pupils, disabled persons of all groups will continue using public transport free of charge as before.
- For teachers, full-time students, families with many children and other categories of passengers who are entitled to discounts, the price of tickets will not change and will remain on the level of 2014.
- Working passengers will be also given a discount on fare, which will allow them to preserve the previous price of one trip – EUR 0.60.
- There will be a new discount for non-full time students, which will pay EUR 0.30 per trip.
Price of one-month tickets
Riga City Council will keep on subsidizing significantly the prices of one-month tickets for regular customers of “Rīgas satiksme”. As a result, the prices of one-month tickets will be increased very cautiously and some of them will be even lower than in 2013.
For example, the price of the most expensive one-month ticket (for all routes of all types of public transport, for all days of a month), will be increased by 25% - from EUR 40 to EUR 50. In 2013, the price of this ticket was LVL 45.90 or EUR 65.50.
The meeting of Riga City Council, where necessary amendments are planned to be made in regulatory enactments, is scheduled for 15.00.
As is known, now the discount on one trip is set for all passengers, regardless of their declared place of residence, which means that now Riga City Council ensures from the city budget a 50% discount from the previously calculated cost of the trip, which is EUR 1.20, for both Riga residents and residents of other municipalities. A resolution of Riga City Council established such order until January 31.
The decision that the 50% discount will apply to both Riga residents and non-Rigans and will be funded by Riga City Council was taken early last year after an agreement reached with then Minister of Environment and Regional Development, Einārs Cilinskis. It was a temporary solution, and as of 2015 the government had to compensate the expenses on discounts for non-Rigans.
Now, according to the information provided by „Rīgas satiksme”, 44.8% of public transport passengers pay the full ticket price, for 10.5% the price of ticket is partly compensated by Riga City Council discounts and 44.7% use public transport free of charge. Given the new discounts, the tariff changes will affect less than a half of Riga public transport passengers.
Riga City Council’s Public Relations Section
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