The subway fare will remain at $650, the value to which it increased on Saturday. The Buenos Aires Administrative Litigation Chamber confirmed that the City appeal The ruling that gave him five days to adjust the value is “suspensive”, Therefore, until the underlying issue regarding the increase that was applied is defined, the file will maintain the price established by the Executive.
Judge Elena Liberatori had accepted the City’s appeal, but on Friday she had clarified that if the requirement to present a plan to adjust the value of each trip before Tuesday was not met, the rate was to return to the $125 prior to the first increasewhich in mid-May had taken it to $575.
From now on, then, the judicial process initiated from a appeal for protection presented by leftist parties, which had first stopped the increases and then managed to get Liberatori to order the Buenos Aires Government to present a adaptation planconsidering the increases excessive.
The appeal for protection was presented by the national representative Myriam Bregman, the Buenos Aires legislators Patricio del Corro and Alejandrina Barry, and the metrodelegate of line B Claudio Dellecarbonara, all leaders of the PTS-FIT. A first ruling by Liberatori stopped the first increase, to $574, one day before it was applied. Although 24 hours later, after a presentation by the City, gave him free rein.
Later, the same judge gave him five days to the City to “adjust” the rate. However, the Executive decided to move forward with the increase schedule, which was discussed in a public hearing and met the previous deadlines for publication in the Official Gazette. And on Saturday the second planned tranche was implemented, which brought the value of each trip to $650.
The Executive opted for maintain the planned schedule awaiting a ruling from the House, which was announced this Monday. What this decision by judges Gabriela Seijas and Horacio Corties does is give “suspensive character” to the City’s appeal. That is, it rejects the deadline set by Liberatori while analyzing what determination to make regarding the underlying issue, which is the value that the rate should have.
For SBASE, the Buenos Aires State company that is in charge of the service, the strong increase in the subway is justified to compensate for the increase in operating costs, which grew as a result of inflation. It ranges from salaries to maintenance. Furthermore, it is sought reduce the weight of the subsidy on the ticket.
According to the state entitytoday the subway technical rate is $859.07. It is what each user costs after dividing the operating costs by the number of paid trips made. That is, it is what the ticket should be worth without a subsidy.
But the subway has other own subsidy sources that were created in 2012, when the Nation transferred control of the network to the City. At that time, a law was voted that determined that a part of what is paid in tolls on Buenos Aires highways, a percentage of the Licenses for high-end cars and a portion of what is paid as Stamps on the contracts between private parties are transferred to the Subway Fund, whose sole purpose is to subsidize the rate. The issue is that inflation was raising costs so much that this subsidy fell short and managed to cover a small part of the real rate.
Even with this increase and the one coming in August, which will take trips to $757, the discount scheme for frequent passengers is maintained. This is a 20% reduction for those who travel up to 20 times a month; 30% for those who do it 30 times; and 40% for those who travel 40 times.
In addition, the social rate or free subscription, as appropriate, remains in force for domestic workers, retirees, students, teachers and former combatants, among others. And the SUBE network, which combines trips with buses and trains, grants discounts of 50% on the second trip and 75% on the third, as long as they start within two hours of the first trip starting.
