Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Transport

There are at present a couple of tens of subsidized bus routes between different counties, rides on which will become free from July 1 next year in accordance with the plan tabled by Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Kadri Simson.

"We don't know yet what will happen. There was a meeting with the Road Administration today as well. They do not know what will happen either. Nobody can say," Go Bus board member Enn Randmaa told Postimees on Wednesday.

Another member of the management board of Go Bus, Andrei Mandla, said that at present the government subsidizes their Haapsalu-Tartu service. "That bus is sold out on Fridays. What will happen when the whole thing is free?" he asked.

Jan Landrat, route manager at Taisto Liinid, pointed out potential distortions to be caused by free services on partial legs of the free service which other operators have been serving on a commercial basis, as well as the effect on the economic results of intercity bus lines where a free bus and a fare charging bus operate closely together.

Also the question of whether a fee can be charged for booking a free ticket via the online ticket selling system has yet to be solved, Landrat said.

The government has set aside money in next year's state budget to raise the subsidy for bus services from 21.9 million euros to 34.8 million euros to make rides on county bus routes free from next July 1.