Municipal authorities in Sofia were debating reducing the number of preferential public transport cards or having them scrapped altogether. The talks were held on November 24 at a municipal budget commission conference, Dnevnik daily reported on November 24 2009.

The proposals were suggested after the submission of a report by deputy Sofia mayor Mink Gerdjikov. In this communique, Gerdjikov proposed that the price of public transport tickets should be raised, while preferential or discounted tickets  issued to certain groups should be reevaluated.

"We are in the middle of an economic crisis and we have to rethink our current policy. This means some categories of people who are currently eligible to use a discount card may no longer be able to qualify for one," Ivan Neikov from the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) was quoted as saying by Dnevnik.

"Currently, there are 16 different such categories," he said. Sofia Public Transport company currently offers discount cards to university students, pensioners, disabled people, war veterans and many others.

Meanwhile the municipality covers the discrepancy between the actual price of the card and discount card for all 16 categories, but with every passing year the expenses have been rising relentlessly. So far this year they have reached 100 million leva.

"We are approaching absurd levels which have to be compensated by the municipality alone. If this continues, we will have to make drastic cuts in other departments," Neikov said.

Meanwhile, GERB advisor Radoslav Toshev suggested that preferential cards be scrapped altogether, and should any of the categories remain eligible for future discount, the expenses ought to be redirected towards the Labour and Social Policy Ministry and not the Sofia municipality. Additional amendments envisage that the fine for passengers without tickets be increased to 20 leva. The proposed amendments will be voted on by the municipal council on December 17 2009.