Benidorm works to guarantee the university transport service provided by ABEU

Benidorm City Council is already working to guarantee the university transport service to Alicante and San Juan campuses that ABEU provided until now, after learning yesterday of the association's unilateral decision to suspend the service. The Councilor for Education, Maite Moreno, has clarified that “as of today, ABEU has not communicated this decision to the City Council or its motivations; in fact, we have learned of this decision through users who yesterday contacted the department to report a communication sent by the Board of Directors to its partners, 260 of them from Benidorm ”.

In any case, “faced with this situation, we are looking for a solution that allows the maintenance of the service in the terms that were being provided and in which the City Council would participate, in principle, under the same formula as up to now: paying part of the cost that students pay for this transport ”.

At this point, Moreno recalled that "each year the City Council announces grants aimed at reducing the expense paid by each student for the use of ABEU's ordinary bus service, and that they reach 50% of the amount paid." Until last semester, students paid a monthly amount for transportation. However, with the outbreak of the pandemic and the realization of a large part of the university academic activity by telematic means, a transport system was established through travel vouchers, which were acquired by students who attended face-to-face classes on the campuses of Alicante or San Juan.

The person in charge of Education has indicated that " the City Council we have tried without success to contact the association to find out the reasons that have led to the suspension of the service and thus seek joint solutions. Meanwhile, the technicians of the Education department are working on determining legal formulas to guarantee transportation, this being a premise of the government team ”.

Moreno has stressed that "this government is not going to leave Benidorm university students who have suddenly been left without service, and therefore a solution will be given to guarantee this service at least until the end of the course 2020/2021, since the statement sent by ABEU to its partners indicates that the association will try to provide this service next year ”.

Response to the PSOE

The Councilor for Education has regretted that “once again, the PSOE opts to launch a press release before contacting this government team to find out if it has information or if actions have been initiated to solve an issue like this; statement in which they also claim to have made a request to the local government that they have not made.

Moreno has wanted to "reassure" the socialists, assuring that "this City Council is not going to leave the students without this service and is going to try by all means that this service is not lost as when it was lost when the Conselleria let down Benidorm students with functional diversity who regularly attend Infanta Elena and San Rafael de Alicante centers ”. A transport service, she recalled, that the Ministry canceled in 2017 and that "since June of that year this City Council has taken over, thus helping families to ensure that their children continue to receive care in these centers."

"Neither at that time nor in these 4 years, the socialist spokesman Rubén Martínez has raised his voice to demand that the Ministry return to assume this transport service, which thanks to Benidorm City Council is guaranteed," the councillor stressed.