Urban transport operators in the capital have reached an agreement with the Municipality of Tirana and will receive a subsidy of 1 million euros to overcome the financial crisis. 

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj met this Monday the representatives of urban transport association (UTA), with whom it was agreed to improve the service to citizens, as well as the acceptance of a package proposed by the Municipality of Tirana to overcome the difficult situation. 

The operators accepted the requests of the municipality for raising the service standard, setting GPS and formalizing the sale of season tickets. Meanwhile, for the first time, the Municipality of Tirana will offer a 1 million euro subsidy. 

"The Municipality of Tirana will offer for the first time a subsidy of 1 million euros. The quality is increased only by transparency, the use of GPS, the formalized pass, and not the subsidy. But since we are in extraordinary conditions I have made an extraordinary decision. As a start, we are also committed to the VAT and excise subsidy, which will be given by the municipality of Tirana cash for operators, but of course it will be monitored with transparency, GPS and the way of formalizing the sale of season tickets, otherwise we have done nothing", said Veliaj 

For the first time there will be a unique formatting and formalization of the sale of season tickets, in order to eliminate their sale on the black market. 

"We cannot have scenes like those that happened years ago, where operators are arrested with fake tickets. This is a relationship of trust, you must first have trust in each other. With the installation of GPS in buses, we must also determine the place where the tickets will be sold, in the right way and not on the street ", declared Veliaj. 

The mayor said that support for the category of students and other social categories will continue. He warned the operators that if they do not increase the quality of transport, their licenses will be revoked. 

"The Zoo line brings out cancer from the marmot and this has nothing to do with Covid, this has to do with depreciated vehicles, which is a scandal. I have left you a deadline until October 30th. You have 5 days; or else you will lose the license, as "Ferluti" lost. Planting trees on the lake, making bike lanes, making the lake the most visited place and surrounding it in addition to the orbital forest with orbital soot is intolerable. Those buses produce cancer, and at least for the dignity of our children, you should not take those buses out anymore," Veliaj stressed.