The end of pre-purchased tickets at Horários do Funchal constitutes “a brutal, camouflaged increase”, the Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP) party denounced today. In the previous model, it is recalled, passengers could purchase pre-purchased tickets for €1.25, but with the discontinuation and postponement of this option, HF now only offers the single option of an on-board ticket for the price of €1.95.
“This measure represents a brutal increase of €0.70, a disguised trick that attacks the pockets of Horários do Funchal users”, accuses the JPP deputy, Luís Martins, quoted in a press release that announced a political initiative carried out today on Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses, next to the public transport company’s sales kiosk.
“In some rural areas, where tickets used to cost, for example, €1.30, they have risen to €1.95, which is now the reference price for municipal tickets. Intermunicipal tickets now cost €2.60, however the MP mentioned that, in certain locations, buses are already full, leaving some public transport users stranded”, the same note explains.
“It is not enough to apply the RRP money and announce the digital transition and carbon reduction”, observes Luís Martins, considering that it is “necessary to think about people and all the variables of the transport issue, from road infrastructure to public transport routes and timetables, without neglecting the mentioned increases.”
For the parliamentarian, the current public transport service is “expensive and unattractive”, and it is still necessary to adapt routes to the number of users and to timetables that serve the interests of all sectors of the population.