The bus companies and transfer vans in the south want "immediate and concrete support" from the government, to face the high increase in the price of fuel.
If this support does not appear, the fleets of these companies, «consisting of dozens of buses and hundreds of vans, will possibly be stopped, (…) leaving thousands of tourists to transport», assured the Associação de Transporte de Passageiros do Sul (ATPS).
"According to data from some partner companies, there are already thousands of reservations in the system, but these, according to accounts made, will cause a 50% loss in profit in the services in question if there is no drop in the price of fuel or state support", he added. the same entity.
According to the association, “the fundamental issue in this situation is related to the contracts signed a few months ago with tour operators and travel agencies. At the moment, there are no clauses that can reverse the values agreed with them, as in the past these values had never been reached per liter of fuel».
The increase in fuel prices was the subject of an extraordinary meeting convened by the ATPS board, which took place on Tuesday at the Hotel Vila Petra, in Albufeira, «at which the partners demonstrated and shared the impact that the abrupt increase in fuels will have in its summer operation, which starts around Easter».
At this meeting, it was decided to «create a platform, through which services will be shared between companies, in order to facilitate and integrate services to minimize costs, agreeing, among themselves, a price list for the services performed. ».
The Government, recalls ATPS, will "soon provide new support through the Environmental Fund for taxis, TVDE's and buses, but light vehicles with up to 9 seats, which provide transfers and school transport services to several Municipalities in the Algarve and Alentejo, licensed through the IMT/Turismo de Portugal».
ATPS has already requested a meeting of the RTA, “at which, among other matters, it will address this issue”.
Comments