the mayor of The Massacre of Acentejo, Ignacio Rodriguez Jorge (PSOE)calls for public transport to be free on the island of Tenerife. The Socialist President urges the Island Council to stop charging for using the buses in Titsa, at least for students and people in situations of economic vulnerability.
The head of the matanzas government considers that “the worsening of the economic situation, affected by the pandemic and the current war in Ukraine” they require measures that contribute to facilitating “equal opportunities, territorial and social cohesion and more sustainable mobility”.
For Ignacio Rodríguez, “it is a good time to take charge of what is happening at the state level, and adopt the free public transport of buses in Tenerife“.
The president from Matanzas does not give up his efforts to “get the Cabildo of Tenerife implant the completely free use of public transport by bus for all the students of Tenerifean initiative to reduce the cost and promote public transport that, under different formulas, we have defended for a long time”. Rodríguez recalls that in 2018 passed a motion in which “the problems of family economies, full social equality, territorial cohesion and environmental benefits were appealed to as compelling reasons for adopting this measure”.
“Gratuity is more urgent and necessary than ever, both for the student community and for workers, as well as in all cases in which vulnerability is detected”
“Six years after that proposal, and in the context of an economy seriously damaged by the effects of Covid-19, by the war in ukraine and the general increase in prices, the Gratuity becomes more urgent and necessary than ever, both for the student community and for workers, as well as in all cases where vulnerability is detected. What is desirable is that all citizens could gradually benefit from this gratuity who need it and who opt for public transport when traveling”, Rodriguez Jorge explains.
For the mayor of La Matanza, a municipality that has always been vindictive in matters of public transport, “the current moment, with the Government of Spain betting on this gratuity in rail transport, is propitious for the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands take up the baton and follow the example in Tenerife and the Canary Islands, where mobility is a great challenge and family economies suffer in a special way”. In his opinion, this measure fits within the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Rodríguez Jorge recalls, as he did in the development of his proposal in 2018, that the implementation of gratuity would have a direct effect on various aspects all of them connected with the 2030 Agenda: guarantees the equal access of students to their educational centers regardless of their place of residence; favors the necessary territorial cohesion and above all Social of all the young students residing on the island; promotes equal opportunities, limiting the expulsion of many young people from the educational system; it will have a clear impact on family economies, bringing us closer to a more supportive framework by reducing spending; creates awareness and habits about the need to use public transport as a guarantor of a more sustainable and healthy mobility; It potentially contributes to solving the problem of traffic jams through its unquestionable condition as a direct incentive for the use of public transport, and will significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
