'We are open to the transfer, but we also need the funds,' Macri

Buenos Aires City Mayor, Mauricio Macri, came on stage today to claim for a solution “within the law” in order to move forward with the transfer of the Subway management and 33 urban bus lines.

Likewise, the business tycoon asked for a meeting with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

“We are a government that’s willing to respect and step up to all responsibilities that an autonomic territory has including those that have to do with security and public transport services. But so far, we see that the transport services are not working well, and there is no bigger example that the sad tragedy of Once train crash.”

Furthermore, Macri warned that if the national government decides not to provide BA City with the necessary funds to manage the services, “it would be another way to keep attacking the provinces and the prospect of federalism.”

Asked about possible bus fare hikes, Macri who has already increased the Subway tariff by 127 percent, indicated that “if the national government decides to change its subsidy policy, we’ll have no other option but to increase the tariff.”

A few days ago, Macri announced the need of increasing the bus tariffs to over 4 pesos per journey in case the national government cuts all subsidies to bus lines.