The chair of the Public Transportation Union, Rixhin Qosja, told Euronews Albania that the sector has plunged into a crisis in the past two years and has not received any aid by the state.
He claims that the union has informed relevant institutions, including the municipality and the transportation ministry, but to no avail.
“Our problems began during the pandemic. For about two years, we haven’t had any concrete response on what will happen to public transportation and what types of aid are we going to get”, says the union’s chair.
He also adds that rising prices are another challenge.
“We’re not the type of sector that can increase the price, it is dictated by someone else. We are facing increasing prices like all other sectors”, Qoshja said.
According to him, the Municipality of Tirana has breached the contract which prescribes the number of buses at the disposal, as well as their time schedule.
Euronews Albania journalists pointed out to Qoshja a clause in the contract that requires claims that the contract has not only been breached on the side of the union.
“The least they could do is open up a special route, then demand from the operators to arrive on schedule. When the infrastructure doesn’t exist, it is impossible to arrive on time. And we get penalized for that”, said the chair of Public Transportation Union.
“The least they could do is open up a special route, then demand from the operators to arrive on schedule. When the infrastructure doesn’t exist, it is impossible to arrive on time. And we get penalized for that”, said the chair of Public Transportation Union.
In terms of the moral responsibility for not informing daily commuters ahead for reducing the number of buses by half, Qoshja dodged the responsibility by saying that they had informed relevant authorities.
The Public Transportation Union has decided to cut down by half the number of 🚌at disposal in a sign of protest of what they claim “unbearable oil prices” while negotiations are underway with the government. However, the decision has led to chaos & long queues at bus stations pic.twitter.com/C3pSGTy1Jb
— Euronews Albania (@EuronewsAlbania) October 19, 2021
However, the row has caused chaos and overcrowded buses in the last couple of days becoming a concerning health risk amid an ongoing pandemic.
