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Public transport receives a SEK 3 billion crisis grant to mitigate the effects of reduced travel on ticket revenue. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin (MP) and Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth (S) during a press conference.
The government believes that support is necessary to avoid congestion on buses and trains.
– It is important to keep up with the tours and make sure you can maintain volumes to reduce the spread of infection, says Tomas Eneroth.
The investment is based on an agreement between the government, the Central Party and the liberals. The distribution of the three billion will be based on the size of the ticket revenue in the regions and will be carried out by the Swedish Transport Administration.
– It is very important that public transport continues to circulate. Not everyone can work remotely, like preschool teachers, nurses, and doctors. They can’t work remotely and they need to be able to go to work, “says Isabella Lövin.
How long the money is expected to last the government still cannot respond.
– We may have reason to return to this topic. We don’t know when the crown crisis will subside and we will have to do much more, especially when it comes to reconstruction, ”says Isabella Lövin.
However, according to the branch organization of Sweden’s Bussföretags CEO Anna Grönlund, the money is too late.
– These three billion correspond to approximately three months of lost ticket revenue backwards, March, April and May. So the money runs out even before they arrive, she says. More will be needed in the future. If regions don’t need to consider whether they need to cut traffic, then public transport companies and commuters will be affected, he says in a comment to TT News Agency.
Kristoffer Tamsons (M) is President of the Swedish commercial public transport organization. In a comment to DN, he describes the message as “an important part of the victor.”
“At the same time, it remains to be seen how far this will go. As a result of the crown crisis, public transport in Sweden is bleeding more than 1 billion crowns a month. Although each crown that secures buses and trains is welcome, today’s message will have to be followed by more if we want to stop the bleeding, “he writes.
The government has already increased government grants to Swedish regions and municipalities by SEK 20 billion by 2020, of which SEK 12.5 billion will be permanent. However, the new SEK 3 billion support is a temporary grant that goes directly to regional public transport authorities.
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