Palma.Although the cost of a one way single ticket will go up by half as much again, the government wants to penalise regular public transport users less so that those with multi-journey tickets will pay an increase of just 20 percent.
Pensioners and large families will also be affected proportionally in the same way as the rest of the public but will still be able to benefit from a 50 percent discount on the cost of a single ticket.
The fare increase will mean that the Majorcan Railway Service (SFM) will be able to rake in another 2.5 million euros a year to give a total annual income of 7.5 million. However, a government spokesman said yesterday, this still isn't enough as the SFM is running at a major loss with costs of 75 million euros a year. Money brought in through customer fares presently only cover 6.6 percent of outlay, he said. The remaining 93.4 percent has to come out of the regional treasury.
The same sources said that although the present Partido Popular government is very much in favour of public transport, its priorities were Health and Education.
Fares on the Majorcan Railway Service have been frozen since 2008 and as a result lag some way behind bus and coach fares which have been subject to increases as per the Cost of Living Index (IPC) guidelines provided by Central Government.
Consequently, private coach companies running inter-urban services are now claiming that the train is providing unfair competition.
One firm cited the example of a train passenger travelling between Palma and Sineu would only need to pay 1.85 euros whilst if they made the same journey by coach, the fare would go up to 3.40 euros, nearly double.
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