Ibarra public transport drivers paralyze their activities, after judicial action that suspended the increase in the value of the ticket

Ibarra

In Ibarra they remain without urban or rural public transport. The carriers decided to suspend the activities on the afternoon of this Thursday 28 after a Court of Criminal Guarantees of Imbabura admitted the precautionary measures presented by the mayor Andrea Scacco regarding the increase of $ 0.05 in the value of the ticket (of $ 0.30 at $ 0.35).

The decision that should govern on November 1 was authorized by the board of the EP Mobility Public Company (Movildenor EP), but it will not materialize after the mayor Andrea Sccaco filed a legal action.

The bus stops in this city are empty, reducing mobility because more than 400 units stopped circulating on the streets of the imbaburan capital. Frequent users and residents living in scattered locations are concerned about the lack of this service.

Marcelo Yépez, representative of the intracantonal transport lines of the Mancomunidad de Tránsito del Norte, rejected the actions taken by Mayor Scacco and the City Council.

The leader justified the aspired rise that, according to him, is caused by the crisis caused by the increase in fuels and the automotive basket, and also the debts left by the COVID-19 pandemic. He described the increase in the cost of the ticket as a compensation that responds to a technical study.

At failure of the court, released last Thursday morning, sand indicated that prior to the approval of a new ticket value there should be an analysis of the technical study applicable to each canton.

In turn, the councilors demanded that the general assembly of Movildelnor, made up of 15 mayors, be the ones to make the decision and not the board of directors.

Instead, Luis Fernando Ruiz, manager of Movildenor, indicated that they filed a brief with the Imbabura Criminal Court.

In the document he specified that there is a reform to the statute approved by the Commonwealth in November 2018, which is in force and which allowed the board to make the determination unanimously, providing compensation to the cost of the ticket.

Ruiz told this newspaper that there were three alternatives: the first increase to $ 0.68 that the technical study showed or the second that the buses do not go to work because it is no longer a sustainable business.

“Before the pandemic they mobilized 450 passengers per day and currently only 220, diesel also had a cost of $ 1.04 and today of $ 1.90; and the third option, which was the one applied with a rise of $ 0.05 ”.

He also clarified that the increases have been authorized by the National Transit Agency (ANT) since previous May, having been approved in Babahoyo, Cañar, Machala, Quito, Loja, Santo Domingo and under discussion in Esmeraldas.

Regarding the non-departure of the buses this day, he said: “We have urged local carriers to maintain the service, since this issue must be resolved in law, in a country where the Constitution of the Republic must prevail above all.” (I)