Senate approves bill creating rules for bus charter apps

The Senate plenary approved this Thursday (16) a bill that changes the competition model for the interstate and international road passenger transport service.

The original proposal, articulated by senators linked to transport companies, could inhibit the performance of bus charter application companies. However, the version ended up dehydrated by the Chamber of Deputies, when approving the proposal on Wednesday (15).

The senators then had to vote on the proposal again. Symbolically, they endorsed the version that was approved by federal deputies. The proposal now goes to the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The bill had initially been approved at the last deliberative session of the Senate in 2020. It was included in a last-minute articulation. Senators report that, although the author is senator Marcos Rogério (DEM-RO), it would have been articulated by senators Acyr Gurgacz (PDT-RO) and by the current president of Casa Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) — who did not preside over the Senate at the time. Both are linked to well-established companies in the passenger transport sector.

Report published by leaf showed that Pacheco is linked to two companies in the industry, Viação Real and Santa Rita, administered by his father, and that the senator acted to defend the interests of companies in the interstate road transport of passengers.

At the time, Pacheco sent a note in which he defended the honesty of his performance in Congress. “I don’t manage and I’m not a direct partner in these family businesses. I don’t mix parliamentary activities with personal and professional matters,” he said.

The text in the Senate was reported by Acir Gurgacz, whose family owns the Eucatur transport company.

The version initially approved in the Senate was seen as a heavy blow to bus charter application companies, as well as targeting smaller road passenger transport companies that would have their licenses to run certain lines cancelled. It provided for a series of requirements for the operation of companies in the passenger transport market.

The proposal, however, remained in the drawer of the Chamber of Deputies since then.

Interlocutors reported to Folha that there was a recent agreement between the leaders of the two legislative houses. Federal deputies decided to vote on the bill, as long as the senators committed to approving the version that had passed in the Chamber.

In recent days, hundreds of charter buses came to Brasília and parked in the Esplanada dos Ministérios region, demonstrating against and in favor of the project.

The text that is going to be sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro removed part of the requirements and the section that suspends thousands of interstate passenger transport lines.

The approved proposal, for example, does not contain the requirements initially included by the senators. The text established, for example, that companies should respect hours and minimum frequency and have fixed routes. In addition, there was a limit of 40% of the fleet to be outsourced

The proposal approved in the Chamber and later endorsed by the senators in the second ballot also removed the device that prevented intermediation in the sale of tickets, but maintained the prohibition on the individual sale of tickets.

Companies will be able to obtain authorization from ANTT for the interstate collective transport of passengers, as long as they have capital of R$ 2 million and meet the safety and quality criteria of the buses used in the services. It will, therefore, be possible to provide non-regular public transport services for passengers, but it will be prohibited to sell individual tickets.