After assuring city council that they would do everything in their power to prevent proposed cuts to city bus service next month, the majority coalition of the Best Party and the Social Democrats voted against a proposal to prevent those same cuts.
As reported, the bus company Strætó, which is owned by the capital and surrounding municipalities, has had to make do with less available funds, and so had planned on making cuts to service beginning 1 February. Mayor Jón Gnarr said that he wanted to do everything in his power to prevent the proposed service changes. Karl Sigurðsson, the chairperson of the city’s environmental and transportation committee, told Smugan that “it is quite clear that [the city council majority] does not want to make cuts to public transportation.”
However, today the majority coalition arrived at the conclusion that after taking a better look at the proposed cuts to service, that they saw no reason to change the budget for the bus service.
“The city councilpeople of the Best Party and the Social Democrats point out that the cuts are temporary,” their statement from the meeting reads in part. “It is important to use the time this year to look at public transportation in Reykjavík more closely and determine how to best utilise it in the future.”
They added that they considered it important to get the national government on board with supporting public transportation more as well.
Both the Leftist-Greens and the conservatives expressed disappointment with decision, pointing out that the decision is not in keeping with the conclusion arrived at by the city environmental and transportation committee.
Related:
Mayor To Review Cutting Bus Service
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