Porto, March 27, 2025 (Lusa) — The president of the National Association of Passenger Transport (Antrop) said on Thursday that only a "clear policy" of strengthening supply, even "without immediate economic return", will increase public transport users. "We will only be able to change this panorama with a clear policy of strengthening supply, even without an immediate economic return, and showing the population that public transport exists in quantity and quality and that it responds to people's mobility needs," said Luís Cabaço Martins during a seminar on road transport organised in Porto by the “Transportes & Negócios” newspaper.
He emphasised that "if people have this alternative in public transport, over time they will end up using it".
On the other hand, the leader of Antrop considered that increasing the number of public transport users - which the "best projections" suggest will never exceed 20% of the population, compared to the current 13% - doesn't mean betting on fare reductions or even free fares.
"We're not fervent supporters of prioritising, and often almost exclusively focusing on, fare reductions and free travel," he said, explaining that the price factor “has an interesting potential to increase demand, but its effect is limited”.
"Firstly," he explained, "because it primarily captures the less favoured sections of the population, who already tend to use public transport. And then because, if there is no increase in supply, attracting demand through price will end up alienating potential middle and upper middle class users, due to the poor public service provided."
In this sense, Luís Cabaço Martins believed that, "regardless of the creation of new financing solutions, the priority should be centred on significantly increasing the supply" of public passenger transport, without the need to extend the current fare reduction policies.
"And," he emphasised, "this requires a strong allocation of resources to improving supply, and not consuming all available funds to finance fare reductions or free fares.
In addition, Antrop's president mentioned the need for the second-generation public service contracts to "correct the mistakes that were made in the initial contracts," specifically reducing the bureaucracy associated with reporting, standardising the information reports, and providing for contractual adjustment mechanisms "when there are legislative or contractual changes that have an impact on the life of the public service provision."
"This is central when we live through major political, economic, etc. changes. Contracts have to adapt to new realities, because otherwise it could be the end of the service," he said, emphasising the need to “ensure contractual sustainability in the initial setting and in the respective updates of transport operators' remuneration".
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
