After more than four years with the same value in the service, the Municipal Urban Mobility Council approved this Thursday morning (09) the new tariffs for the collective public transport system for passengers in the Municipality of Natal. The new value of the public tariff in the Municipality will be R$ 4.50 (single value, for payment by cash and card), coming into force from next Monday (13). The Decree with the adjustment should be published in the next few days in the Official Gazette.
The rate adjustment index corresponds to half of the inflation recorded (by IPCA), since the last change in the value of the service, made four and a half years ago, in May 2019. While the IPCA for the period (May 2019 to September 2023) was 28.69%, the public tariff adjustment percentage was R$15.38%. Natal was the Brazilian capital that spent the longest time without changing the price of bus tickets.
Even within this period of four and a half years without changes in value, input costs increased substantially. Fuel (S-10 diesel), for example, had a 67.42% increase in cost. Likewise, the prices of common diesel (49.56%), tires (93%) and uniforms (40%) rose.
There was also the negative impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Confinement measures during the pandemic interrupted passenger transport services. Next, the market’s behavior after the pandemic meant that, to this day, the sector has not recovered the number of users registered in the pre-Covid period.
Thus, the values of public fares for passengers, from November 13, 2023, will be:
| Modality | Value |
| Entire fare | R$ 4.50 |
| Student rate | R$ 2.25 |
| Social fare, card only | R$ 2.25 |
| Entire fare for neighborhood lines | R$ 4.00 |
| Neighborhood lines student fare | R$ 2.00 |
| Social fare for neighborhood lines, card only | R$ 2.00 |
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