Children up to 14 years will travel free on public transport. The measure shall enter into force on 1 February 2024. This is what Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Gvozdeykov said at a briefing at the Council of Ministers today, after the government adopted changes to the legislation regulating subsidies and compensation in public transport.
Children up to the age of 7 will continue to travel free of charge on inter-city road transport, while those aged 7 to 14 will enjoy a 50% reduction on inter-city road transport, the minister explained. He clarified that until now, this has applied to children aged 7 to 10.
The changes adopted by the state budget will provide a 50% reduction from the regular fare for seniors and students on public transit and intercity bus routes. So far, discounts have been between 20 and 30% depending on the category and type of travel.
‘We urge municipalities to develop updates to their ordinances and tariffs and to publish the changes for public discussion as soon as possible,’ Minister Gvozdeykov stressed. He also explained that people who have bought annual passes under the current conditions will be entitled to reissue them under the more favourable regime, which comes into force on 1 February 2024.
Another important change is that the state will now subsidise three instead of two daily transport links between settlements in sparsely populated mountainous and border areas. ‘Almost 330 million is the state budget allocation for public transport in 2024,’ the minister said. Of these, BGN 141.4 million are for discounted public transport cards and BGN 188 million are for subsidising urban and inter-urban road transport.
