The Free Fare Movement comes to Rio
On 6th February, Rio's military police clashed with thousands of protestors calling for free movement in the city. What caused the fare-hike and why is the state so violently defending it?
During the peak of rush-hour traffic on February 6th, roughly two thousand residents marched on the streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro towards the central train station that connects the city with the surrounding metropolitan area. They marched against a R$0.25 bus fare hike (10 US cents/6 UK pence) that would put the price at R$3.00 (US $1.25/UK £0.76). And they marched fortarifa zero, which would finance public transport through taxes, allowing passengers free access buses, metros, trains and ferries. The protest ended in violent chaos in which police tear gassed protestors, bystanders, and commuters stuck in snarling traffic while protestors set fire to trash heaps and hurled rocks. One journalist died from injuries sustained while covering the protest.
During the peak of rush-hour traffic on February 6th, roughly two thousand residents marched on the streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro towards the central train station that connects the city with the surrounding metropolitan area. They marched against a R$0.25 bus fare hike (10 US cents/6 UK pence) that would put the price at R$3.00 (US $1.25/UK £0.76). And they marched fortarifa zero, which would finance public transport through taxes, allowing passengers free access buses, metros, trains and ferries. The protest ended in violent chaos in which police tear gassed protestors, bystanders, and commuters stuck in snarling traffic while protestors set fire to trash heaps and hurled rocks. One journalist died from injuries sustained while covering the protest.
The protest was lead by members of the Free Fare Movement (or the Brazilian acronym MPL for Movimento Passe Livre). The MPL is an activist-group of radical urbanists, influenced by the writings of Henri Lefebvre, fighting for theright to the city by means of free public transport. I briefly described the origins and ideology of the MPL, and their role in instigating the Brazilian “June Uprisings” of 2013, in a post on FAVELissues.
The private bus companies contracted by the municipal government to operate the public bus system in Rio de Janeiro, along with Mayor Eduardo Paes and other politicians who support the fare hike, argue that the increase is necessary in order to cover rising operating costs and new investments. Ironically the last fare hike was justified in order to cover the cost of installing air conditioning units to relieve passengers of heat indexes that reach 50 degrees Celsius, yet two years later less than 20% of the buses operating in the city carry these units, and fewer still in buses that primarily serve working class and poor regions. The Mayor and the bus companies remind the public that fares haven't gone up in two years precisely because of the June protests. Indeed, four of those companies are suing the municipality for nearly R$200 million (US $83 million) in “lost revenue” as a result of the suspension of last year’s fare hike, a sum greater than their combined 2012 profits and equal to the cost of roughly 72 million journeys.
The problem with their argument is manifold. For one, it seems that politicians in Rio de Janeiro accept that prices in a non-competitive, state-facilitated oligopoly should increase because…well just because; as if it was a natural process with no need for evaluation, reflection, or justification. According to the federal Applied Economic Research Institute (IPEA), bus fares have risen at a rate of 65% above inflation. A cursory audit of the private bus companies revealed that together they made over R$70 million (nearly US $30 million) in profits during 2012. I call the audit cursory because it was conducted without free access to the companies’ financial records (which is a violation of their contracts) and the companies had plenty of time to alter their balance sheets before handing over what they did make public.
For another, Eduardo Paes stated to the press in December of 2013 (less than 8 weeks before the protest), that any adjustment to bus fare would depend on the findings of an independent administrative court within the municipal legislative branch (known in Portuguese as the Tribunal de Contas), which was tasked with analyzing the situation and determining what increase of fare would be…fair. Turns out the private bus companies don’t like it when independent fiscal institutions have access to their financial records, and they delayed or refused to hand over all the documents requested by the technocrats. In turn, the Tribunal analyzed what information was available to them and reported that there was no justification for a fare increase and that in reality the fairest thing to do is to decrease the price by 25 cents.
Furthermore, and most important to the organizers of these protests and discussions about the right to the city and urban mobilities, public transport must be recognized as a public good, similar to education, public health, and security. MPL points out that transportation is integral to daily life in any urban environment, and that the poor and working classes are almost exclusively dependent on public transport to move between work, leisure (if and when they can afford leisure activities) and home. .. read more:
