The introduction of free rail travel for students and pensioners as of November 17 by the governing Smer-SD party has produced its first victims, with small bus carriers reporting slumps in incomes as high as 50 percent, according to a report from the Hospodárske Noviny daily on Tuesday. "We used to transport 130-150 people daily, but only 20-30 people have been getting on my bus since November 17", said Marek Sala, the owner of a small family bus company in the village of Belža, near Košice. "It's a disaster; we're at our last gasp. I carried only four people out there and back last week", said Sala. "It could happen that I won't dispatch the bus tomorrow ... The incomes currently aren't enough even for fuel and road tolls. If I had known two years ago when I was starting the business that the state would introduce such a measure, I would never have launched it. If the state wants to do something for students, it should buy pencil cases or satchels for them, but it shouldn't do things like this", said Sala, adding that it seems that his company will go bankrupt soon, with him and his drivers having no other option but to sign on at a labour office. Ivan Lamoš, chairman of the managing board of another bus company operating trans-Slovak routes reports a decline in incomes reaching 20-35 percent. The company isn't planning to scrap the routes for the time being, however. "I'm providing for eight families, I can't throw them into the gutter overnight", said Lamoš. Meanwhile, Sala is preparing a strike by bus carriers in the next few days. "We won't hesitate to park a bus on a rail crossing in order to be noticed by somebody", said Sala. On page 12, one of the daily's reporters, who commutes by train between Trnava and Bratislava every day, states that the quality of rail transport has deteriorated significantly since November 17. In order to deal with the crowds of new passengers travelling for free the state rail company has reintroduced formerly out-of-service coaches. "I've seen the door on a carriage open during a journey at full speed a few times. We had some ten people crowded in the corridor near the door a few weeks ago", added the reporter.



Text: Gavin Shoebridge, Photo: SITA