The ministerial order postponing the increase in the price of the metro ticket from 5 lei to 7 lei by two months was signed by the interim Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Radu Miruta, who assessed that the fare increase will actually be canceled through the measures that will be taken.
"In the two days since I arrived at the Ministry of Transport, I looked at the financial situation and tried to analyze the arguments for which the decision was made to increase the price of a metro ticket from 5 to 7 lei. The amount resulting from this increase would be 59 million lei per year, which means almost 2.5% of the entire Metrorex budget. And I started this analysis starting from the idea that it is not normal for the citizen to pay if there are situations in which state employees are satisfied with this money that accumulates in the budget of a state company. And I looked for whether there are alternatives so that this amount of 59 million lei per year could be compensated from a reorganization of Metrorex's activity. At first glance, at the first check, I found 60 million euros of money uncollected from penalties that were given for the delay of a single contract at Metrorex. It took nine months after this period in which the penalty invoice should have been issued the next day, until the invoice was issued. After the invoice was issued, no further steps were taken. Only from here there is five times more money than would have been obtained from the increase in this ticket", Miruta stated, on Wednesday, in a press conference, agerpres reports.
The interim Minister of Transport also reviewed other irregularities found in Metrorex's activity, such as: a company that uses Metrorex's depots and buildings for free, but also losses of 4 million lei annually recorded by the Straulesti parking lot, managed by the husband of the general director of Metrorex.
"We found a situation with the non-lease of commercial spaces in the metro station network, non-lease with an analysis, that is, a lease that could have been made with a fire safety analysis, common sense rules, compliance with and facilitation of passenger flows. However, we found advertising contracts that were given without a competitive procedure, imagine how much money could be lost from the fact that a competitive procedure was not organized. We found a company that uses Metrorex depots and buildings for free, without paying anything. We found the Ciurel sports base that the Metrorex union uses, collecting money from the activities that take place there, without there being a legal basis to do this and without paying money to Metrorex, which is the owner of this sports base. There was "There used to be a contract between Metrorex and the union, which allowed the union to rent to make money. That contract has long expired, but the union continued to make money from some Metrorex assets, like the building on Oltenitei. I found the situation of the parking lot in Straulesti, for which losses of 4 million lei per year are recorded, even though there are requests for a public-private partnership, so that it would be managed, and it would no longer be the case that Metrorex would pay 4 million lei per year. And I found the situation in which this parking lot, which is recording losses of 4 million lei per year, is managed by the husband of the general manager," the head of Transport claimed.
In addition, Radu Miruta noted the tripling of salaries of employees of the underground transport company in the last 10 years, but also the failure to meet the performance indicators provided for in the mandate contracts of the executive management of Metrorex.
"We found financial indicators not achieved according to the contract by the general director of Metrorex. We found the tripling of the salaries of Metrorex employees in the last 10 years, in conditions where the number of employees serving Metrorex is one and a half times higher than the number of employees serving the metro network, by comparison, in Vienna, which is twice as high. From my point of view, if a few days ago we heard that all these things that led to the increase in the price of the metro ticket were explained as bad luck, today it is time for luck to come and I have here the ministerial order that interrupts, starting the day after tomorrow, the increase from 5 to 7 lei of the metro ticket that I am signing and which will go to the Official Gazette," he said.
Miruta expressed her belief that, in addition to the two-month suspension of the order, there will even be its cancellation.
"Two months (is the suspension - ed.). I estimate that much sooner than two months these measures will bring in more money than would have been saved by increasing the tariff and it will be canceled. It will probably be canceled sooner than two months, as we see when exactly the money comes into the accounts, but the news is that as of Friday, when it should have come into effect, it no longer comes into effect," he said.
Former Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ciprian Serban stated, two days ago, that the order increasing the price of metro travel was his bad luck, because it took place at the end of his term, but it had to be signed, as it was a decision of the Metrorex Board of Directors and could not be reversed.
"Bad luck, as a classic in life would say. My bad luck, that it's at the end of my term. Why? Because there we have a decision and an assumption of the Board of Directors of Metrorex. We tried all kinds of discussions with them, we tried all kinds of variants to not reach this increase. There is no going back to it. It was somehow my attribute to sign that order because all the steps in the ministry followed. When it came to me, the file had to be signed. I didn't limit myself to that, we also sent the control body because there are certain expenses there that are, in my opinion, unjustified and of course, not only the people of Bucharest have to bear the bad management of public money by that company," said Serban on Monday, at the balance conference.
He claimed that that order had all the approvals and if he had not signed it he could have been accused of "anything else".
According to the ministerial order signed on Wednesday by Radu Miruta, the increase in metro fares is postponed, as decided by the outgoing Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ciprian Serban.
By this order, Metrorex is required to present, within a maximum of 60 days, a cost reduction plan, with actions, milestones and concrete calculations, which will lead to a decrease of at least 10% in the cost base.
The fare per metro trip increased from 3 lei (August 2021) to 5 lei (January 2025) and, now, it would have risen to 7 lei, i.e. a total increase of 180%.
