BUS OWNERS were warned yesterday that they were running out of time to accept a deal to retire from the business or participate in the new transportation system, set to start on July 5, unless deputies agree to postpone it as some suggested.
The professional drivers are seeking payments totalling around €50 million, when the state is only willing to offer €3 million, the House Communications and Works Ministry heard yesterday.
Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis – who joined Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis to attend yesterday’s parliamentary session – warned bus drivers that time was running out to make up their minds.
Stavrakis said the compensation on offer was “fair and just” and based on the purchase price of the buses, the value of the licence and the bus owner’s profits or losses.
“This year’s budget included a €3million for bus owners’ compensation,” said Stavrakis. “You understand, by increasing this formula it is possible that public finances won’t be able to take it, which is completely unfair.”
He said the drivers’ demands would mean each retiring bus driver would receive €500,000. “These are unreasonable amounts,” he said.
Marcoullis said her ministry had examined various scenarios to estimate the formula. As the formula stands, an individual bus owner with profits of €5,000 will receive €6,000 for his bus, plus his profits timed by 3.6 (€18,000) and around €11,000 for the value of his licence – totalling around €35,000. For a professional who has sustained osses, the formula estimates a six per cent profit on the bus’s value timed by 3.6, adding up to €18,296.
A profitable company with five buses would get €157,000, but the same company with losses would see only €91,480.
Marcoullis said from those joining the new system Larnaca had shown the highest participation with 98 per cent and Paphos the lowest with 53 per cent. Sticking points yet to be ironed out include the failure to reach an agreement between Nicosia Urban Buses and OSEL, the new umbrella company.
“I am sending a public plea to companies, especially OSEL and Nicosia Urban Buses, to reach a mutually accepted formula as soon as possible,” she said. “The Communications Ministry and government in general will not accept arrogance or terms and conditions that are one-sided against those who have decided to join the new system.”
The minister also warned the public not to expect a huge difference in public transport next month.
“We are at the beginning of the new revolutionary public transportation system in Cyprus, which has been delayed for many years,” said Marcoullis. “But we need to be patient, so we can gradually see the full development of this system, which will bring great changes to the public, the economy and the environment.”
Alecos Pataslides of the Cyprus Rural Buses Association said his association – which has 155 members – “categorically disagreed” with the proposed formula.
He said the law on estimating compensation had not been properly followed and brushed aside concerns over the cost to an ailing economy. Pataslides said each bus driver should be entitled to between €30,000 and €100,000.
The Communications Committee said it would mull the whole issue for a week and see whether the nee system should go ahead as planned or be postponed. DISY and the Green Party want it postponed until September. Green Party MP George Perdikis accused the government of “last-minute” blackmail against bus drivers.
