Genevans will be called upon to vote at the end of November on the law on TPG which aims to transfer the responsibility for setting prices from the Grand Council to the executive. For the Council of State, this measure is essential to better meet mobility needs.
Geneva is a national exception. Public transport prices are anchored in a cantonal law, unlike the rest of the country where it is transport operators who establish the prices for their services. The Grand Council must therefore vote for any modification of prices with the result of an optional referendum, which creates administrative burden and a lack of flexibility according to the executive.
“There is an increase in mobility needs linked to leisure activities, so we would like to be able to develop preferential rates at certain times of the week or at certain times, gain in agility and not wait each time for the Grand Council to vote on a bill subject to referendum” argues the State Councilor in charge of mobility, Pierre Maudet.
A transfer of skills that raises fears
The bill which aims to transfer the power of setting prices from parliament to the executive would give the government complete latitude to increase prices, according to its opponents.
“It is a fear which could be legitimate if it were not balanced by the fact that we announced four years before what would be upward price adjustments, we have committed in the next four years not to not increase prices, it is written, the deputies take note of it, they can always correct things when voting on the budget” specifies Pierre Maudet.
It was the Grand Council, mainly on the right, which voted to remove the tariffs from the law, opposed by the left and the unions which had obtained nearly 8,000 signatures last August. Genevans will vote on November 24.
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