According to the PSD councillor, Álvaro Almeida, the proposal received the approval of all parties and also of the Social Democrats, who were still pleased to know that one of the issues that had been raised by the party when the pass was approved “Porto .13-15”, had been corrected.
“The council paid for all the passes that were issued, even if people later did not use them and paid 30 Euros. (...) Now this pass is only charged to the council if it is used and that seems to me that it is positive and significantly reduces costs for the council and it was one of the things that allowed us to extend the age limit”, he explained.
Also the councillor of the CDU, Ilda Figueiredo, welcomed the approval of the measure, wishing that the ticket could get into “full” operation quickly.
For the councilwoman, this extension of the gratuity of the title to young people from 13 to 18 years old “is very positive”.
PS councilman Manuel Pizarro, recalled that this was a proposal presented by the PS in 2019, which had been rejected on the basis of the financial impact argument.
“At the time, what we were told was that they were very afraid of the financial impact of the measure. I would say that from this point of view, it is better late than never. So we are satisfied. But it had already been for us last year and I think that today, we all agree, even the municipal majority, that this would not have had any financial problems, something that we already sustained in the previous year”, he said.
In the summary released on 22 June, the municipal majority reveals that “the municipality’s investment, budgeted at around €1.2 million per year, corresponds to an estimated increase of €90,000 monthly, compared to the first year of application of the measure”, emphasising, however, that in compensation, the council will only pay for the trips that are actually made, which weighed in the decision to extend the measure up to 18 years.
According to Cristina Pimentel, a “realistic and careful” expenditure forecast allowed the possibility of undertaking this “upgrade”, in addition, adherence to the ticket of transport was around 50 percent of the estimated population, said the councilwoman.
The proposal to extend the free pass for young people up to the age of 18 approved on 22 June will now be submitted to the Municipal Assembly.