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Mayor Tião Bocalom announced, this Monday (23), the opening of a new tender for public transport in Rio Branco and stated that his management managed to “open the black box” of the system. The statement was made during an interview with the podcast On Scenedo ContilNet.
When commenting on the cost of the fare, the mayor recalled that the technical value of the ticket exceeds R$7. “It’s costing more than R$7.00. So, the ticket would cost R$8.00”, he said. According to him, the tariff paid by the user, currently R$3.50, generates a high subsidy from the municipality.
Bocalom also spoke again about his campaign promise to “open the black box” of public transport. When asked if he considered he was able to fulfill his commitment, he replied:
“Hey, how come it didn’t open? How come it didn’t open? Because at first no one knew what number we had. Now we’re all open. There’s no secret anymore.”
According to the mayor, the city hall now has detailed control over the system’s information, including data on paying passengers and free passengers.
“We didn’t know how much each person actually paid. Today they know everything, today the city hall has control of everything, they know everything, RBTrans knows everything that is happening”, he declared.
He stated that previously there was a lack of clarity about the real cost of the tariff and the financial movement of the system. “It was a mixed deal between the government, what it received from users, the company had been there for 20 or so years, it had a balance in the middle too. It really was a black box, no one even knew how much a ticket actually cost.”
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According to the mayor, currently all value changes are published and data on free fees is monitored in detail. “Today we know exactly how many students from Colégio de Aplicação passed through, how many students went from each private school. We know everything. Today everything is perfect.”
Problems persist, but the situation has improved
Bocalom acknowledged that the system still faces difficulties, especially in meeting schedules, but stated that progress has been made since the beginning of the administration.
“Of course it didn’t solve the problem. I know I have to improve a lot. But it’s already improved a lot compared to when I got it, yes, because when I got it there were buses crashing, doors all the time, there were buses that didn’t run, they didn’t keep to the schedule.”
He added that RBTrans has notified the responsible company to demand compliance with the schedules and stated that the expectation is for improvement with the new tender.
“When the bidding ends, God willing, a new company will come, which will take over the system, whether it will be Rico or third, whoever wins. The whole of Brazil will certainly keep an eye on this bidding.”
Purchase of new buses
During the interview, the mayor also spoke about the acquisition of new buses through financing. According to him, Caixa Econômica Federal released the loan obtained by the city hall more than a year ago.
“The bidding is already underway. Caixa Econômica released the loan that I obtained there a year or so ago, it is only now, at the end of the year, that the loan was released.”
The forecast, according to Bocalom, is that the purchase process will be completed within eight months. “I believe that this tender will also take another six months, around eight months at most,” he said.
See the full interview:
