Subway rides in Bucharest get more expensive starting end-March

Bucharest subway operator Metrorex will increase ticket and subscription prices by up to 33% starting the end of this month. A card with two trips will cost RON 5 (EUR 1.12), up from the current price of RON 4, which stands for a 20% increase. A card with 10 trips will cost RON 20 (EUR 4.5), 33% more than the current price of RON 15. The cost of a monthly travel subscription with unlimited number of trips will increase from RON 60 to RON 70 (EUR 15.7). Daily subscriptions will cost RON 8 (EUR 1.8) instead of RON 6. The Ministry of Transport is to approve the new fees by the end of the month. This measure will be applied starting March 28 and is expected to increase Metrorex’ annual revenues by some RON 44 million (around EUR 9.9 million). The company relies on this to balance its budget for 2015. Metrorex’ estimated expenses for this year amount to some EUR 154 million while the revenues (not including the price hike) are estimated at some EUR 144 million. The company’s own revenues are only EUR 45 million or less than a third of all income. The remaining EUR 99 million come from state subsidies. Metrorex estimates it will carry a total of 175 million passengers this year, the average price of a ride just under RON 1 (EUR 0.225), not including the tariff increases. With the price hikes, the company’s average revenue per passenger should go up to RON 1.24 (EUR 0.278). The company previously increased metro ticket prices in 2012. At that time, some fees went up by 50%. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com