Oslo City Council want to halt increase in public transport prices

public transportOslo. Public transport.Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix

The Oslo City Council wants to stop the planned price increase for public transport, but the county councillor in Akershus is skeptical.

 

Last year, the politicians in Oslo and Akershus agreed on an extraordinary increase in prices for public transport users. The price increase was part of the Oslo package 3 agreement, reported Aftenposten newspaper.

According to Aftenposten, the increase coud be between 10% and 20%. On Wednesday, the Oslo City Council will present its budget proposal to spend NOK 140 million in the next two years, to avoid the extraordinary increase in ticket prices.

The City Council also asks the politicians in Akershus to join them in keeping prices down.

‘We think it’s a historic opportunity if we manage to keep collective prices at the same level, when its become more expensive to drive a car,’ said council leader Raymond Johansen of Arbeiderpartiet (AP).

The county councillors in Akershus are not convinced.

‘We signed an agreement with the City Council last year. We are sticking to that agreement, and I urge the City Council to do so too. I think the challenges of veering from the Oslo package 3 deal are big, and could be dramatic,’ said Anette M. Solli of Høyre (H). She didn’t comment in the drama involved in not having to pay a possible 20% more to use public transport.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today