Children up to the age of 14 will travel for free in public transport, while until now only children up to the age of 7 had this right. This was announced at a briefing in the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Transport and Communications, Georgi Gvozdeikov.
Children up to the age of 7 will continue to travel for free in intercity transport. Children from 7 to 14 years of age will travel with a 50% discount in intercity transport. Until now, this only applied to children aged 7 to 10.
The mandatory reduction of the regular price of the cards for pensioners and students for city transport and intercity bus lines, which is also provided by the state budget, is increased to 50%. Until now, these discounts were between 20% and 30%, depending on the category and type of travel. A new group of eligible citizens has been added – persons with disabilities and reduced working capacity up to 70%. They will travel with a minimum discount of 25%”, Minister Gvozdeikov explained.
The government adopted changes to the regulation that regulates the amount of subsidies and compensations for bus transport. Almost BGN 330 million are the funds planned in the state budget for public transport for 2024.
“A total of BGN 141 million are funds for cards with discounts in public transport, and BGN 188 million are for subsidies for inter-village transport connections,” Minister Gvozdeikov explained.
He pointed out that all changes will come into effect from February 1, 2024. “We call on municipalities and municipal authorities to develop updates to their regulations and tariffs, as well as publish the upcoming changes for public consultation in the remaining days of 2023. People, who bought annual cards under the current conditions, will have the right to reissue them under the conditions of the more favorable regime for them”, he added.
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