Last week we talked about the difficulties of local public transport, also highlighted by the data of the 20th Isfort Mobility Report, according to which only 7.4 per cent of Italians’ trips in 2022 were made by public transport.
Among the causes highlighted by the Report are the lack of services and infrastructure, as well as a lack of ad hoc policies and insufficient funds.
The response, however, was not long in coming: at the beginning of December, the Unified Conference set the amount of 1 billion for the local public transport and rail and an additional EUR 119 million in refunds for increased fuel costs in favour of ordinary statute regions.
The result is the result of the agreement on the draft decree of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport in agreement with the Minister of Economy and Finance Minister of the Economy and Finance for the final allocation among the Regions with ordinary statutes of the 2023 appropriation of the National Transport Fund amounting to 5,054,130,338.00 of euros.
The National Fund for local public transport charges, including rail charges, in the regions with ordinary statutes covers about 75% of the current needs of the LPT sector and, in particular, of the total value of the service contracts, stipulated by the companies that provide services in the territories of the regions. But in the meantime, 119 million will be paid to the Regions, Autonomous Provinces, and companies operating local public transport services, for the increase in fuel costs incurred to power road, lake, maritime, or rail transport vehicles.
According to the executive decree, EUR 40 million is for the reimbursement of costs incurred in the second quarter of 2022, and over EUR 78 million as an advance for the third quarter of 2022.