The Covid 19 pandemic exploded the problems that many, in particular among the ranks of the current majority, have pretended not to see for too long, demonstrating how local public transportation does not respond to the needs of those who utilize the service, whether they be tourists or residents, and furthermore how the employees work in conditions that are far from what could be called satisfactory.
By Sara Arco
29 September 2022
A few days ago, coincidentally just hours before the vote, all of us saw the video of Mayor Luigi Brugnaro driving an electric bus for a few meters. Why stage this scene? For the election? Or is it because, as Mayor of the Municipal City of Venice, he is also politically responsible for the various subsidiaries of which the Municipality is the main shareholder? One example is AVM, and therefore ACTV, the company that manages local public transportation in the Municipal City of Venice. But what is the Mayor really doing for AVM-ACTV?
The Covid 19 pandemic exploded the problems that many, in particular among the ranks of the current majority, have pretended not to see for too long, demonstrating how local public transportation does not respond to the needs of those who utilize the service, whether they be tourists or residents, and furthermore how the employees work in conditions that are far from what could be called satisfactory.
To talk about what is happening at ACTV, however, first it is necessary to offer some important context.
ACTV is a company made up of workers who risk their safety, as well as psychological pressures that in some cases are very serious due to the inconveniences and tensions in the service that are out of their control. Let’s remember that we are still in a global pandemic which has caused over 170,000 deaths in Italy alone. While a large majority of citizens had the opportunity to protect themselves in the most difficult period by staying at home, workers in mobility services were in the different vehicles that the company made available, and exposed to the risk of Covid 19.
And how were they repaid?
When the pandemic wave seemed to subside, in January 2021, AVM, at the urging of Luigi Brugnaro’s administration, decided to cancel second level supplementary agreements. Instead of using the opportunity provided by the tragedy of Covid to prepare a plan for resolving the problem of moto ondoso, a new transportation plan, and for rethinking tourism and the management of tourist flows, the Brugnaro administration decided to reduce the quality of the jobs at a company it manages, as well as to make daily life more complicated for those who use its services. In the meantime, 2022 is also about to end and still no framework has been found for an agreement with the workers, and the livability of our city has deteriorated considerably.
So what did happen during those two years?
Aggression and threats against employees, and long, at times extremely long lines waiting for public transportation. Through it all the commissioners and the Mayor never missed the opportunity to spuriously point their fingers at the workers.
It does not end there: the failure to plan for new hiring, not only for the normal replacement of retiring personnel but also to make up for the resignations of workers who found better working conditions in other companies; insufficient investments in maintenance and innovation of the vehicle fleet the company owns; armed guards at the docks. And finally, private companies, even without any bid, have replaced entire lines of service, in some cases using ACTV vehicles, but with workers from another company.
But let’s look more carefully at the operation of the Administration, or better still at Budget commissioner Zuin and Mayor Brugnaro. I don’t mention commissioner Renato Boraso, the Delegate to Transportation, because not only has he never participated in a meeting with the unions but he has never made any statements regarding the issues that have arisen in these two years. Perhaps he thinks that this delegation, which is extremely important in a complex city like ours, is no more than a pin to hang on his chest or a set of words and letters to add to his personal resume.
The City of Venice has never had financing from the State and Europe like it has in recent years. We can also add to that the Municipal budget surplus and the so-called “Zappalorto quota”. But how have these resources been invested? Certainly not for rethinking public mobility, considering that they have decided to invest all of the available resources from the budget surplus in the so-called Bosco dello Sport, and also to add new debt. What’s more, while the service increasingly worsens, and while the quality of the jobs is being cut, the City has decided to increase the prices for using the public transportation services in Venice. In fact, the ferry fee for the islands of Giudecca and Pellestrina was eliminated, and for those who do not hold a Carta Venezia the ticket now costs ten euro each way.
These are all choices that penalize productive activities on the affected islands, and drive customers to use other services offered by private businesses. Services which, as we have witnessed over the summer season, do not have the capacity to replace the service that could be directly provided by the public company.
The management of tourist flows is also closely linked to issues of mobility. Soon a new regulation will be voted on that will introduce an entry fee in our community. It is yet another patchwork resolution, done without listening to any suggestions or needs, and that has nothing to do with the governance of tourism. Furthermore, it delegates many important decisions to the administration, starting with defining what the threshold of excursionists will be to trigger the change in the tax, without specifying how they will be counted. In the meantime, the functioning of the smart control room is still wrapped in mystery (I wrote about this previously here with Giuseppe Saccà).
Governing tourism is a priority, and requires much different tools, starting with a redesign of local public transportation. For years we have waited for the PUMS “Urban Plan for Sustainable Mobility”, announced monthly as coming soon in the metropolitan city, but meanwhile time passes, and the city, especially insular Venice, is seeing a growing percentage of aging residents with very specific needs, while on the other hand tourism has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Reorganizing public transportation should be a priority in our city, addressed with the same urgency as security. All of this is clear, but you must experience the city that you administer to understand the fundamental needs of the citizens and the economy.
Sara Arco is the Delegate for Tourism for the Municipality of Venezia, Murano and Burano
Source: Ytali.com
Campaign For A Living Venice 