Free Student Pass is unanimously approved by the Fortaleza City Council – PontoPoder

O Student Free Pass was unanimously approved by the Fortaleza City Council (CMFor) this Wednesday (8). With 40 votes in favor, in a single discussion, three amendments were approved at the commission meeting and added to the basic text of the student benefit.

Sent by Mayor José Sarto (PDT) in September this year, the measure aims to grant two free tickets per business day for each student holding a Student Card, a document linked to the Bilhete Único. On social media, the mayor announced that he will sanction the project this Thursday (9).

In total, 34 amendments were presented to the original text by Fortaleza councilors and three of them received a favorable opinion in this vote.

Understand changes

• The first says that, instead of total blocking due to misuse, there is a warning that anticipates the final punishment;
• The second says that the City Hall must carry out educational campaigns on the correct use of the benefit to avoid errors due to misinformation;
• The third makes it clear that the benefit will be granted upon presentation of student cards. In the original text, this was left open, it only said that they must present “student identification.

In an interview with Northeast Diarythe councilor of Fortaleza Gabriel Aguiar (PSOL), leader of the opposition, celebrated the approval of the amendments. According to him, the Free Pass was not written by parliamentarians, but by the student movement.

Today is a historic moment, a great achievement for organized students, who have been contributing. The councilors are unanimous in defending this matter and the fight is for this here, the free pass. This was an important step that is being taken today, an achievement for all students who will have two passes during the school period, going to and from school

Gabriel Aguiar

councilor of Fortaleza

Pioneering of Fortaleza

Government leader, Carlos Mesquita (PDT) highlighted that the capital of Ceará is a pioneer in Brazil in implementing the Free Pass in this model. Other capitals such as Maceió, Manaus and Brasília have their own free policies for students, but with other rules.

“My joy in approving this matter unanimously, as Fortaleza today is a pioneer in preparing a work like this for students, (…) It is an example for Brazil. (…) Thanking all 43 councilors. My congratulations to Mayor Sarto”, he said.

According to City Hall projections, the benefit should immediately extend to 340 thousand wallets already issued.

The proposed transport policy was modeled by a Municipal working group created in January this year. The authority’s responsibilities include monitoring and evaluating the city’s public transport.