"The price of liquid fuel is rising by the day and as it seems de facto it will continue to rise. Due to the high dependence of our society on the private car, the financial burden on citizens is unbearable," the Movement of Ecologists - Citizens' Co-operation said in a statement.
It points out that in its effort to relieve citizens financially, the government is planning to reduce the consumption tax on fossil fuels but, it adds, this action will possibly lower the price and bring economic relief but the use of the car will remain the same and there will be no positive effect on the other two major problems facing our society.
"The first is the serious traffic problem we face in our cities and the second is the high emissions of pollutants which are responsible for the most serious problem of the climate crisis facing humanity. On the issue of pollutant emissions, Cyprus has pledged to reduce them by 55% by 2030 and to eliminate them completely by 2050," he says.
But, he adds, reducing the excise tax neither solves the traffic problem nor reduces pollutant emissions. The question, it asks, is who will pay for the purchase of emission allowances which are increasing year by year?
Instead of reducing the excise tax, the Citizens' Ecological Movement proposes to subsidise public transport. "For the first six months it is proposed that the use of public transport throughout Cyprus should be free of charge. After the six months the fare for travel throughout Cyprus should not exceed €10 per month. For vulnerable groups, the elderly, soldiers and students to continue to be free of charge. In this way. It will be much cheaper for citizens to travel by bus than by car, as is the case in most European countries. It should be noted that, according to conservative calculations, the use of an average car costs at least €400 per month, whereas with the bus it will be zero to minimal
- Congestion on the roads will be significantly reduced as one bus replaces up to 25 cars. This empties our roads and speeds up travel for everyone including buses. It is the best advertisement and a strong incentive for citizens to embrace the buses that have been neglected in our country for decades. In addition, the intensity of climate change, which directly threatens our children and humanity as a whole, is reduced
- The economic impact on the state will not be great. In fact, instead of losing revenue from the reduction in the excise tax on fossil fuels, it will give it to civil society by subsidising public transport
We are thus moving from a lose-lose situation to a win-win situation," the statement said.
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