Five Tirana public transport operator fined

TIRANA, Sept. 2 – Albania’s Competition Authority says it has fined five public transport bus operators in Tirana for violating competition rules with students’ season tickets. The Authority says the five operators have been fined a total of 6 million lek (Euro 42,000) because of refusing to recognize seasonal tickets without the logo of the Association and limiting the trade of season tickets for the 2007-2012 period.
The fined companies include Ferrlut, Tirana Lines, Tirana Urban Trans, Alba Trans and Parku i Autobus췥 Urban t롕dh쵡r췥, all of which operate in public transport in Tirana urban area.
Preliminary investigation had shown there was indication of limited competition in the sale of general and students’ season tickets by members of the National Association of Urban Transport, offering smaller number of season tickets. This behaviour could bring limited or distorted competition, forcing consumers to buy bus fares which are much expensive in order to use public transport in Tirana, the Authority had warned.
The Municipality of Tirana has warned public transport companies that any unilateral increase in bus fares would automatically strip them of their licences. Claiming difficult financial situation, the Association of Urban Transport in Tirana had called for an increase of the bus fares to 70 lek (Euro 0.5), up from lek 30 currently.