Milei removes public service status from transportation in Argentina

Published at: 07/10/2024 03:46 PM

The Government of Argentina, headed by the ultra-right libertarian Javier Milei, published a decree on Monday that eliminates the condition of transport as a public service and frees those who want to transport passengers from requirement.

In this regard, from now on, transport companies will be able to define routes, schedules, prices, duration of services and the places where passengers pick up and drop off, which must be authorized by the local jurisdiction.

This decree replaces a 30-year-old rule and creates a new regulatory framework for automotive passenger road transport between provinces, including the Argentine capital, and between ports and airports. However, it excludes public transport services.

The former minister of national transport and current national deputy, Diego Giuliano, questioned the new regulations on long-distance bus services and assured that the new framework will generate problems in prices, frequencies and connectivity.

“It is likely that larger companies will end up absorbing smaller ones,” Giuliano said, because the freedom it creates is that consolidated companies in the most competitive destinations can offer a low rate, but when competition disappears, they have the freedom to set whatever rate they want.

He stated that “if transport disappears as a public service, there will not be the same frequency, nor affordable rates, nor continuity (...) The regulation not only defines routes, but also requires connecting areas with less population or with natural connection difficulties, something that is replaced by public services,” he said.

Mazo News Team