Public Transport in Sofia will Not Stop Tomorrow but there will be Heavy Traffic due to Protests

Society | May 17, 2022, Tuesday // 14:02
Bulgaria: Public Transport in Sofia will Not Stop Tomorrow but there will be Heavy Traffic due to Protests Tram number 7 in Sofia @Wikimedia Commons

Public transport in Sofia, including the subway, will tomorrow run on their usual routes, on all lines. However, there will certainly be difficulties in the movement due to the announced protests.” This was said at a briefing to the media by Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova.

She clarified that the municipality received several applications for protests on May 18, and yesterday the application of the employers organizations was withdrawn. The proest of will be carriers, taxi drivers and transport unions will still happen. To reject any speculation, Fandakova stressed that the protest was organized by the unions.

She informed that the transport unions will have three collection points - at the "Five Corners" (Pette Kyusheta), the “Lion's Bridge” (Lavov most) and “Stochna Station” (Stochna Gara), and the assurance is that only employees who are not at work will participate in the protest. After that, a procession to the Ministry of Finance will be held.

The Sofia Municipality has called on the organizers not to block intersections until 8.30 a.m. due to the “Matura” exam in Bulgarian language and literature and the easy movement of students to the exam. “Whether they will comply - we will see”, said Fandakova.

Regarding the carriers, the talks with the Council of Ministers are continuing and there is still no information about what exactly will happen, said the mayor of Sofia. Later today, a meeting between representatives of the industry and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov will take place, the outcome of which will determine whether the carriers will fulfill their threat to protest.

Regarding the taxi drivers - their meeting point is on the South Arc of the Ring Road, in the section between Bulgaria Blvd. and Cherni Vrah Blvd., said the director of the Security Directorate Kristina Lazarova. The protest starts at 9.00 a.m. and this will not prevent the children from moving to the exam. No traffic is expected, as taxi drivers will park their cars in the far right lane. They are expected to march to Independence Square, leaving their cars on Maria Luisa Blvd. There, however, traffic will be blocked. The drivers themselves will walk to the Council of Ministers. Their notice of protest is until 22.00 p.m.

The police will monitor the order of the protest.

Tomorrow the transport branch will organize a nationwide protest

Carriers are demanding the abolition of the expansion of the toll system and the reduction of the excise tax on fuels.

From 8.00 a.m. to 9.30 a.mm the employees of “Stolichen Elektrotransport” (Metropolitan electric transport), EAD “Stolichen Avtotransport” (Metropolitan motor transport) EAD, “Metropolitan” EAD and Center for Urban Mobility EAD will hold a protest at the following locations:

"Lion's Bridge" (Lavov most) square - a roundabout;

"Stochna Station" (Stochna Gara) square - roundabout;

Crossroads "Five Corners" (Pette Kyusheta)

The protest will continue with a procession, which will start at the assembly points at 9.30 a.m. with the following routes:

From Lion's Bridge Square, Kn. Maria Luisa, “Independence” (Nezavisimost) Square, G. S. Rakovski to the Ministry of Finance;

From Stochna Gara Square, Vasil Levski Blvd., Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd. to the Ministry of Finance;

From the crossroads of the "Five Corners", "Patriarch Evtimii" Blvd., "G. S. Rakovski ”to the Ministry of Finance.

The procession will continue with a protest from 10.00 a.m. in front of the Ministry of Finance.

From 10.30 a.m. the procession of the protesters will continue to the Council of Ministers / from the Ministry of Finance, G. S. Rakovski, Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd. next to the Council of Ministers /, where a protest rally will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 13:00 a.m.

From 10.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. the workers and employees in Sofia Municipality, “Krasna Polyana” District will suspend work for one hour and will not serve citizens, as they are determined to defend their demands for a salary increase of 30% with a retroactive date of 01.01.2022 to the end.

The one-hour warning strike of the employees is a consequence of a procedure under the Collective Labor Disputes Settlement Act, which started in April 2022 and the lack of an increase in salaries this year.

The strike will be titled "NO to humiliatingly low wages!"

Yesterday, employers said they remain on alert, but will not join for now, after reaching an agreement with the cabinet on expected compensation.

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Tags: protest, sofia, transport, municipality

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