The mayors of Santa Cruz of Tenerife and of The lagoon, Jose Manuel Bermudez (CC) and Luis Yeray Gutiérrez (PSOE), respectively, as well as Fernando Clavijo (CC), senator for the Autonomous Community, claim free bus and tram transportation for the Island. They consider the 50% bonus announced by the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, for this service from September 1 and until the end of the year to be insufficient. All demand equal treatment with respect to the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Last Monday, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree-Law on economic sustainability measures in the field of transport which, among other actions, articulates the gratuity of commuter, rodalies and conventional Media Distancia services between September 1 and December 31, as announced by Pedro Sánchez in the debate on the state of the nation. In accordance with this measure, which is part of the energy saving plan and discounts for public transport, the Government will discount 100% of rail transport in the Balearic Islands and increase the discount for buses in the Canary Islands from 30% to 50%.
The chicharrero alderman, the nationalist José Manuel Bermúdez, was one of the first public officials to raise his voice to demand from the Executive of Pedro Sánchez the same thing that he grants to the rest of the country’s regions: free public transport. And, in particular, the tramway, which, basically, is nothing more than a smaller-scale variant of the train. Moreover, Bermúdez considers it “inconceivable” that the central government has not included the Tenerife metropolitan tram in a measure that regular commuter train users will benefit from in the rest of the country. “Of course it should also be applied to the tram,” he stressed yesterday.
Along the same lines, his counterpart from La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutierrezhas moved the president of the Cabildo, Peter Martin, the need to initiate the appropriate procedures with the Government of the Canary Islands, the Ministry of Transport and the Presidency of the Government of Spain «so that the residents of the metropolitan area of Tenerife can enjoy the same aid, and under identical conditions, as the citizens of the peninsular territory and the Balearic Islands with subsidies for rail transport». For this reason, it defends that the tram can take advantage of the transport bonuses approved by the Council of Ministers.
double yardstick
“A mockery” is the expression used by the senator for the Autonomous Community, Fernando Clavijo, when describing the 50% discount on the price of the bus ticket for canaries. After accusing Sánchez of rewarding all of Spain with free train transport, he defined such a measure as a punishment for the Canary Islands and said he did not understand “why the state government denies the Canarians what it gives to the people of Madrid, the Andalusians, the Galicians and even the Balearic Islands, discriminating against the 2.2 million Canarians. This “double yardstick” is attributed to the fact that the president “still does not understand that the impact of any crisis or economic recession is greater in the Islands than in the peninsular territory.”
The general secretary of the nationalists also reproaches the attitude of the Canarian government and, in a special way, of its president, Ángel Víctor Torres. At the time, it was questioned that “if the train in the Balearic Islands, which depends on the autonomous government, is subsidized 100%, how is it possible that a similar measure is not proposed here for trams and buses?”
Pedro Martín remains at 50%
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, defended that the “significant reduction in bus and tram voucher rates”, which will reach 34% of the current cost, will mean that “each person will save about 13 euros per transport ticket” . He maintained that it is “a great effort” and, admitting that it is lawful to demand a 100% discount, stressed that “this government not only discounts 75% of the plane ticket, but now collaborates to reduce the fare on the bus and tram ». In his opinion, “we are on the right track.” However, Podemos Canarias assessed Sánchez’s announcement as “insufficient and places the Canary Islands at a clear disadvantage compared to the rest of the territory.”
