"Institutions did not take measures"/ Public transport associations: From Wednesday, we will reduce the service fleet by 40%

2026-04-14 15:41:00, Aktualitet CNA

"Institutions did not take measures"/ Public transport associations:

Public transport associations in Albania have announced today that they will reduce the service fleet by 40%, due to the situation created by the cost of increasing fuel prices.

Through a statement, the associations emphasize that this decision comes after no concrete support measures have been taken for this sector by the responsible institutions to date.

According to the associations, such a decision is made due to the financial situation that has made it very difficult for public transport operators.

Full announcement:

The National Association of Public Transport and the Association of Urban and Interurban Transport inform citizens that, despite the issue raised for weeks and the meeting held on 01.04.2026 with the responsible institutions, no concrete support measures have been taken for the public transport sector to date. We thus conclude that:

a) No compensation scheme for the increase in fuel prices has been approved, despite repeated requests from operators;

b) There is no official decision or action plan to ease the financial burden of the sector;

c) No specific deadline has been given for intervention by the responsible institutions;

d) No process has been initiated to review fiscal elements that directly affect operating costs (excise duty, sales tax, VAT).

This lack of reaction and concrete action has significantly worsened the financial situation of the operators, who are already in extremely difficult conditions to cope with the continuation of the activity. Consequently, we inform you that, starting tomorrow, we will reduce the number of vehicles in circulation by reducing the fleet in the public transport service by 40%, as a mandatory measure to cope with this emergency situation.

We call on citizens to understand and anticipate travel times, emphasizing that this situation does not result from the will of the operators, but as a direct consequence of the lack of timely institutional intervention.

The associations remain open to dialogue and cooperation, but emphasize the need for immediate and effective intervention. /CNA