{"id":84060,"date":"2026-04-22T14:58:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=84060"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:23:41","slug":"rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Costs Reduce Interurban Transport in Berat, Bus Drivers Head Toward Bankruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"123\" data-end=\"630\">The increase in fuel prices and social insurance contributions by 25\u201330% has led in recent days to a significant reduction in interurban transport services in <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Berat<\/span><\/span>. At the city\u2019s only terminal, in Kombinat, buses on routes such as <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Tirana<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Durr\u00ebs<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Vlor\u00eb<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Ku\u00e7ov\u00eb<\/span><\/span>, etc., wait for passengers, but many of them do not depart due to the lack of travelers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"632\" data-end=\"1019\">This situation, which drivers say is worsening, has forced them to reduce the number of vehicles in operation. The number of buses on the Berat\u2013Tirana route has decreased by 30%, while on the Berat\u2013Ku\u00e7ov\u00eb route it has dropped by 40%. The same situation is seen on rural routes as well, where only 3 vans remain on the route to <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Lumas<\/span><\/span> out of the previous 7.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1021\" data-end=\"1194\">\u201c8+1 vans and unlicensed vehicles take our passengers at the stations. Buses leave empty and we cannot cover the costs \u2014 we are heading toward bankruptcy,\u201d said one citizen.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1196\" data-end=\"1623\">Drivers of interurban routes say they are facing serious financial difficulties. Even route owners admit that the rise in fuel prices and insurance costs has forced them to take vehicles out of service, as they cannot afford wages and expenses. They emphasize that the situation is worsened by the operation of illegal vehicles and unlicensed taxis, which take passengers away and force buses to depart with very few travelers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1625\" data-end=\"1822\">\u201cThe increase in insurance costs and illegal competition have pushed us toward bankruptcy. We are keeping the routes running with difficulty and paying out of our own pockets,\u201d said another driver.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1824\" data-end=\"1999\">Interurban transport companies are calling on the state for fuel reimbursement and are asking the municipality to take action against illegal routes operating outside the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The increase in fuel prices and social insurance contributions by 25\u201330% has led in recent days to a significant reduction in interurban transport services in Berat. At the city\u2019s only terminal, in Kombinat, buses on routes such as Tirana, Durr\u00ebs, Vlor\u00eb, Ku\u00e7ov\u00eb, etc., wait for passengers, but many of them do not depart due to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":84061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rising Costs Reduce Interurban Transport in Berat, Bus Drivers Head Toward Bankruptcy - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rising Costs Reduce Interurban Transport in Berat, Bus Drivers Head Toward Bankruptcy - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The increase in fuel prices and social insurance contributions by 25\u201330% has led in recent days to a significant reduction in interurban transport services in Berat. At the city\u2019s only terminal, in Kombinat, buses on routes such as Tirana, Durr\u00ebs, Vlor\u00eb, Ku\u00e7ov\u00eb, etc., wait for passengers, but many of them do not depart due to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T12:58:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T13:23:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_52-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"693\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"418\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nen Si\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/444d280f35e047949b7f0bc08093608f\"},\"headline\":\"Rising Costs Reduce Interurban Transport in Berat, Bus Drivers Head Toward Bankruptcy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-22T12:58:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T13:23:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\"},\"wordCount\":290,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot_52-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"kryesore 1\",\"Kryesoret\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\",\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rising-costs-reduce-interurban-transport-in-berat-bus-drivers-head-toward-bankruptcy\/\",\"name\":\"Rising Costs Reduce Interurban Transport in Berat, Bus Drivers Head Toward Bankruptcy - 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