Manabalss.lv petition on free travel for disabled people passes 10,000 signatures

More than 10,000 signatures have been collected on Manabalss.lv, Latvia's citizens' initiative portal, to preserve free public transport travel for people with disabilities and their escorts. The initiative also demands an end to the obligation to pay a fare difference on regional commercial routes. Signature collection began on 6 November, in response to the Ministry of Transport's plans to change how public transport is financed.

Current rules and the ministry's proposal

Initiative representative Raimonds Lejnieks-Puķe explains that the Disability Law currently guarantees free travel for people in disability group I or II and for children with disabilities. A person accompanying a child with a disability, or someone in group I, also travels free.

The ministry proposes capping the state-funded concession at 70% of the ticket price, so passengers would pay 30% for journeys that are now free. Lejnieks-Puķe says that if a child with a disability cannot travel alone, a family would have to buy tickets for both the child and the escort.

What the initiative demands

The initiative asks the Saeima, Latvia's parliament, to keep the rights set out in Section 12, Part 1, Clause 7 of the Disability Law in full and to reject the 30% co-payment. It also proposes amending the Public Transport Services Law so that a protected passenger need not cover the difference to a regular ticket price on a regional commercial route. Currently, if a commercial-route ticket costs more than the state-set tariff on subsidised regional transport, the passenger pays the difference.

It further requires the government to calculate the funding for this guarantee separately when preparing the budget. If a cut were proposed later, an impact assessment would have to be published before it goes to the Saeima, and alternatives discussed with organisations representing disabled people.

The ministry's funding options

The ministry's solution envisages raising fares by about 10% on average from 2027 while limiting concessions from 100% to 70%. Ombudsperson Karina Palkova, patient organisations, the disabled people's association "Apeirons" and the association "Latvian Child Welfare Network" have objected.

The ministry has offered three options for the Cabinet of Ministers to assess. Base funding has been 93.8 million euros since 2024, while costs in 2026 are projected at about 109.9 million euros. The first option cuts the regional bus network by about 14% and rail services by about 3%, with fares rising about 30%. The second, which the ministry considers workable, keeps the network, raises fares about 10% and caps concessions at 70%, saving about 6.9 million euros a year. The third keeps the network and concessions but would need about 15 million euros more annually.