Prime Minister Robert Fico said on July 22 that he opposes the increase of passenger railway fares; a plan published by the national railway company earlier this week. Fico said he sees no reason for it and that his government certainly would not approve it, news wire TASR wrote.
The railway company Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) has taken Fico's reservations towards fares hikes on board, said spokesman for the state-owned company Miloš Čikovský on July 23.
The Transport Ministry reports that the proposal for adjustment of individual fares is currently analysed and conclusions will be drawn after it has been studied in detail, wrote TASR.
The main reason for fares to go up was their rounding off to one decimal point so that the company doesn't have to deal with the small change, said Čikovský.
Significant increases were not considered, Transport Ministry spokesman Stanislav Jurikovič told TASR.
Jurikovič also said that fares will go up only in percentage terms and the prices would actually increase by only 3 to 34 cents. The increase is proposed to be only 0.9 percent on average, which represents an increase of the company's incomes from the regulated fare of €222,000 on planned annual revenues of €87.6 million.
Čikovský noted that the railway fares have not been adjusted since 2004, whereas the economically-justified costs have increased by 10 percent or €26.7 million.
The proposal for the adjustment of passenger railway fares that was preliminary approved by the Transport, Posts and Telecommunication Ministry (MDTP) is now in the inter-ministerial review phase, according to TASR.
