AM de Lisboa votes today on public transport proposal – News
In a joint meeting of the 1st Permanent Commission on Finance, Heritage, Human Resources and the 8th Permanent Commission on Mobility, Transport and Security, the municipal deputies regarding the importance of the proposal to implement public transport for residents in Lisbon, but there were reservations to the speed of the scrutiny process by the Municipal Assembly, with requests for the final vote to be postponed to next week.
Prepared by the municipal deputy of PS Manuel Lage, the opinion refers to a proposal “is able to be debated and voted on in plenary of the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon”, which can happen as early as Tuesday, but for that it has to be there is unanimity in reserving the agenda, giving priority to the initiative, taking into account an extensive list of documents and the maximum time for the meeting.
The opinion was approved by the majority, with the Liberal Initiative (IL) voting against and Livre and the independent deputy Miguel Graça (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) abstaining.
The municipal deputy would allow Rodrigo Mello to hear questions related to the approval of the opinion for a week, in order to allow, in advance, the Lisbon Chamber and the company – Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa to implement the proposal, a position that we also defend the political initiatives, with the exception of the PSD, which intended that the celerity of public transport was intended to make public transport free of charge before public transport was free.
The PSD municipal deputy Luís Newton said that there will be no hearings that will change the proposal of the proposal, presenting that in the past it was also possible to promote this procedural celebrity in relation to “extreme needs of the measure”, without commenting on accompanying the implementation of the measure and to listen to the entities involved.
Recognizing the importance of the measure for the city and without wanting to jeopardize its implementation, the municipal group of PS, “as a matter of urgency, requests the hearing of the councilor for Mobility, Ângelo Pereira (PSD), and the company TML in the 8th Commission Permanent, regardless of whether the proposal comes to a final stage and is voted on by the public on Tuesday.
“Democracy should not be this way. First listen and then deliberate”, warned Manuel Lage, leader of the PS municipal group, criticizing the lack of prior presentation of the proposal to the Municipal Assembly by the current municipal executive, President Carlos Moedas (PSD who governs without an absolute majority).
The Lisbon City Council provided for an agreement between the municipality and the TML education proposal, valid on December 31, 2025, until the company establishes free tuition for up to 2 years, between the ages of 13 and 18 for students from higher to 3, including the with the exception of those enrolled in medicine and architecture courses up to the age of 24, and those over 65 years of age, in which the common requirement for all is tax residency in the municipality.
Since 2017, children up to the age of 12 have already benefited from free public transport in Lisbon, on the Metropolitano and Carris networks.
The document foresees a maximum expenditure of 6.26 million euros in 2022 and, for 2023, 2024 and 2025, up to 14.9 million euros for each year.
Carlos Moedas has already said that he hopes that people can gradually be extended in the future, to others, such as unemployed university students without tax residency in the city, beneficiaries of the Social Insertion Income (RS) measure with disabilities, as requested by the Bloco de cidade Esquerda, first party with the Lisbon City Council executive who presented a proposal, in 2021, to make transport free for residents of Lisbon.
An estimated estimate with this measure takes into account the current universe of people who use the 65 urban students for students over 65 years old and the estimated increase in the number of users.
Lisbon has a population over 65 years old that is around 144 thousand people, with “less than half” currently using public transport.
The same in the case of young people, who are a city with a population of about 100,000 people, according to the figure already mentioned that the “needs” of participants of the free passes will only be known to come into force and to be monitored monthly.