The Minister of Environment, Infrastructure and Territory of the Generalitat Valenciana, Vicente Martínez Mus, and the Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure of the Community of Madrid, Jorge Rodrigo, demanded that the government provide adequate funding allowing them to assume the responsibilities derived from new map of state road transport concessions.
The two councilors met in Madrid to address an issue that affects both communities and for which, according to their complaints, the Ministry of Transport did not have the participation and consensus of the regional executives for its study.
Martínez Mus and Rodrigo explained that this restructuring of the concession map of the Ministry of Transport, which eliminates several routes, stops and services, “goes against sustainable mobility policies and the connectivity that the Valencian Community and the Community of Madrid have promoted.
The head of Infrastructure of the Generalitat indicated that the new map of concessions “has a direct impact on the cost of services that until now were provided by the General Administration of the State.” However, he indicated, the ministry’s response “is insufficient because only 40 million euros have been temporarily allocated for two years to implement a card in which only canceled services have a cost more than double, leaving the autonomous communities responsible for financing the rest of the costs if “they want to continue provide service to citizens.”
In this sense, he indicated that the restructuring “removes services to municipalities of the Valencian Community such as Alcalà de Xivert, Torreblanca, Bellreguard, Miramar, Torrebaja, Utiel, Requena, Gandía or Segorbewith the removal of stops which will affect more than 135,000 inhabitants of these municipalities.
In order to resolve this problem that affects thousands of travelers, both the Minister of Infrastructure of the Generalitat and the Minister of Transport of the Community of Madrid demand the urgent convening of the Sectoral Conference.
It is essential, added Martínez Mus, that the Central Executive “recognizes the need to transfer funds corresponding to the autonomous communities to guarantee a decent and efficient transport service. “Inter-jurisdictional collaboration is essential to developing transportation policies that meet the interests and needs of citizens.”
Likewise, he recalled that the Generalitat “is committed to ensuring better, efficient and quality public passenger transport to remedy the negligence of the government of Pedro Sánchez, which neglects and eliminates lines, leaving thousands of residents in many municipalities of the Valencian Community. We are committed to invest more than 400 million euros for the renewal of our concession map and the integration of more than 600 buses, most of them hybrid and electric, into the public fleet.
For his part, Madrid city councilor Jorge Rodrigo recalled that “it is a harmful measure, which was carried out without taking into account the dialogue and contributions of the regional executives, despite the fact that we have repeatedly requested the convening of a sectoral conference. “. In addition, he stressed, “in the Community of Madrid, a population of almost 130,000 inhabitants is being left out by eliminating stops in 16 municipalities.”
