Background information

The Council of Ministers approved an additional BGN 73 million to support public transport services across the country. This measure aims to counter inflation and support vulnerable groups. Compensation has been approved for so-called unprofitable lines of all public and urban transport in the country. Also, specific groups will be eligible for reduced public transportation rates. The Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev announced that as of 1 February 2023 the public transportation benefits will be enacted.

Content of measure

From 1 February 2023 until the end of the year all children up to the age of 10 will travel for free on public transport. Previously, only children up to the age of seven were entitled to travel free of charge on intra-city and inter-city transport. Furthermore, the discount for schoolchildren will increase from 20% to 70% and the discount for elderly people will increase from 20% to 40%.

On a monthly basis, the carriers will submit an inventory of the value of the season tickets for children under 10 years of age to the local government, who will submit to the state government. They will also report the discounts for students and seniors will be reflected in the season cards for the main city lines and in long-distance tickets.

In Sofia, for example, annual student cards have been introduced with a price of BGN 200. If Sofia municipality does not decide to change its policy, the cards for pensioners should also become completely free of charge.

Another 27 million BGN will be allocated to subsidise unprofitable inter-city transport lines. The money was provided by an extraordinary transfer for anti-inflationary measures at the end of 2022.

Municipalities should revise the prices of the relevant transport documents. Monthly cards should be easily revised, however it is not clear how annual cards can reflect the changes.

Use of measure

BGN 73 million was approved by the Council of Ministers in January 2023 to support the public transport service. It is unknown how this budget was specifically allocated.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) Pensioners Students

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

There is no public information about social partners involvement of this measure. In January 2023 there was tension between the municipality, ministry of transport and transport trade unions, and preparation of an effective strike for wages increase.

Views and reactions

The trade unions (Confederation of Labour (CL) Podkrepa) insisted in April 2022 that public transport should be free and financed by state and municipal budgets.

Targeted financial support from the state is needed for public transport in Bulgaria due to the COVID crisis and the rising prices of energy carriers and fuels in the last few months, according to the Union of Transport Trade Unions in Bulgaria (STSB).

The effective strike of public transport workers in Sofia was postponed (January 2023), the chairman of the Federation of Transport Workers at the CL "Podkrepa" Ivan Kirilov said. The decision was taken after a meeting between the public transport unions and representatives of the Sofia municipality, discussing the possibilities for wages increase.

Sources

• 06 January 2022: State support for public transport in our country was requested by trade unionists at a congress in Budapest (www.bta.bg)
• 12 April 2022: Confederation of Labour "Podkrepa": Public urban transport should become free (bnr.bg)
• 24 January 2023: The effective strike of the capital's public transport is postponed (news.bg)
• 25 January 2023: From February 1: Free public transport for children up to 10 years old, discounts for students and pensioners (dariknews.bg)
• 25 January 2023: Prime Minister Donev: We provide an additional 73 million BGN to support the public transport service throughout the country (www.gov.bg)
• 25 January 2023: Decree No. 10 of January 25, 2023 amending and supplementing normative acts of the Council of Ministers (dv.parliament.bg)
• 25 January 2023: The government approved BGN 73 million to support public transport (darik.bg)
• 27 January 2023: The decree on free transport for children up to 10 years old (bnr.bg)