Public Transportation Companies Struggle with Financial Difficulties
Public transportation companies are facing significant financial challenges. Without state aid, they would be unable to provide the services they offer, despite their imperfections.
The 2025 state budget has allocated 680 million dinars in subsidies to these companies, broken down as follows:
- SNCFT: 81 million dinars
- Regional land transport companies: 402 million dinars
- National Interurban Transport Company: 3 million dinars
- Tunis Transport Company: 165 million dinars
- Tunisair Express: 10 million dinars
- Kerkennah New Transport Company: 19 million dinars
This envelope represents a 3% annual increase. It will enable the subsidization of student and student transportation, as well as free transportation for certain categories of people with special status.
Despite this aid, the majority of companies are struggling with financial imbalances. Personnel costs are not the primary cause of this situation. The available workforce is capable of operating a larger fleet, so new buses are needed. Recently, an agreement was signed for the acquisition of 300 Chinese buses, which should partially meet the needs of a growing population.
The benefits of a good public transportation service are well known, particularly in terms of productivity. An employee's performance would be significantly better if they could arrive at work calmly. Currently, a 30-minute journey can take two hours, a loss for everyone. They spend the day thinking about how to get home quickly rather than performing their tasks properly. Poor performance is a consequence, not a cause.
