The
bus stoppage
on multiple lines in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) is the final result of an economic crisis that has affected the sector for 15 years, but which broke out in the last year and a half with the acceleration of inflation and the
arrears of rates and subsidies
.
However, the trigger for this strike was the management of
trust funds
, which the Government called the
"black boxes" of politics
.
This week, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, took administrative control of those $1.7 trillion.
The public automobile transport businessmen say that
the Nation did not send the subsidy funds, which are usually channeled through the Transportation Infrastructure System Trust Fund (FFSIT)
, so some of the companies could not
pay salaries
this Wednesday, fourth business day of the month.
The current budget of this fund for 2024 is $479,216.31 million, and about $112,139.19 million, 23.4%, has already been executed.
Bus Strike in the AMBA: Cause of the Problem: Many bus lines did not pay salaries in a timely manner (the deadline is the 4th business day of each month).
This is because the Jurisdictions (Pcia Bs As and Nacion) must pay 50% of the subsidies that… pic.twitter.com/mVMvXl7xlm
— aaeta (@aaeta_arg) March 7, 2024
As of March 6, the debt of the Nation - to a greater extent - and of the City of Buenos Aires with the bus companies was $50,498 million for
lines 1 to 199
, which are the ones that travel only through the City or They cross General Paz Avenue or Riachuelo Avenue;
while the province owed $40,528 million for lines from 200 onwards, which only go through the municipalities, according to the Argentine Association of Automotive Transport Entrepreneurs (AAETA).
This
shortfall of $91,026 million
determined that
the
salaries of bus drivers
, represented by the Union Tranviarios Automotor (UTA),
were not paid .
The problem, official sources say,
would be resolved this Thursday.
Previously, many of the public service operating companies had not paid the
$140,000 bonus
agreed upon in the joint venture on time, as the Government was slow to recognize the new cost structure.
According to Resolution 15/2024 of the Ministry of Transportation, the bus lines that pass from the City to Greater Buenos Aires (called "SGI") are recognized $891.01, of which passengers pay with their fares a average of $187.50 and the State makes the difference with subsidies.
However, the companies maintain that
the "real" cost is close to $1,000.
Another official decision generated noise in the sector.
Last month the Government authorized that the renewal of the units be every 13 years (at most) instead of every 10 years.
That would have helped dilute the costs, but they were computed within the structure to lower the necessary compensation allocated by the State.
Simpler: the businessmen thought that Transportation was going to transfer an amount to renew buses every 10 years, when they had a 3-year advantage to compute benefits, but the State saved the money.
The next rate increase in AMBA
, which could ease the financial suffocation of the sector,
will be in April
and would be linked to inflation in January and February in Greater Buenos Aires (GBA).
NE