Is Latvia going down the drainpipe?

2008-09-15

According to the latest news from today 305 intercity bus rans are closed from today thus making intercity public transportation system in Latvia even more miserable than it was before. The closing of bus routes is because of lack of money (as you probably can guess anyhow). Personally I understand that the times are tough and that they will probably get even tougher, yet what I feel at the moment is the return of the shaky 1990s, and I`m not particularly fond about that. The new millenium came with a hope in Latvia, a hope that the future would be more stable than the past, that by joining the EU and NATO we will be on a never ending road to progress (not being a fan of either of these organizations I was sceptical enough, but that`s another issue), but at the moment it seems that it all has been mostly promises and words and that at the moment there`s not much in Latvia to cheer for (unless you`re a hockey fan).
I may have gone a little overboard with this blog entry, as all I really wanted to write about was the closing of the bus lines, but I just couldn`t stop myself.
Anyway in most lines the cuts probably won`t be too painful, but there are a few exceptions (from what I have found during a brief research, and if I`m not mistaken):

  • instead of 3 buses per day from Alūksne to Jēkabpils there will be only one from now on

  • The will be no early (5:30) bus from Riga to Valka (in total the reduction on this line is from 5 to 3)

Probably there will some more important line reductions, I don`t know but the sheer number - 305 sounds tough enough to me.