Sofia's Ground Public Transport Protest Continues on Friday, Underground will Operate

The protest of the public transport in Sofia continues tomorrow, May 16, as decided by the employees.

The underground will continue operating without interruption, according to a statement from "Metropolitan" (the metro operator). On Friday, there will again be additional trains on Lines 1, 2, and 4, as well as extra carriages on Line 3. The reduced intervals between train departures across all lines will remain in effect.

After more than a three-hour meeting with the mayor of Sofia, no agreement was reached on how to increase the wages of public transport workers. Today is the second consecutive day the capital is without bus, tram, and trolleybus services.

Transport workers gathered at the "Banishora" depot, sitting on benches in front of a tram to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the proposal made by Mayor Vasil Terziev—to raise the wages of all workers, approximately 7,000 people, by 180 BGN. Their demand was for a 300 BGN increase, and they categorically refused to accept the mayor's offer.

The blockade of public transport and the resulting chaos in the capital continue—indefinitely, as Mayor Terziev told the strikers that if they return to work tomorrow and over the weekend, he will meet with them again at 8 a.m. on Monday. However, if they persist with the blockade, it remains unclear what actions will be taken.

Significant disruptions to city travel are expected again on Friday. Proposals were made to allow free parking in the blue and green zones and to open the currently empty bus lanes to regular car traffic. However, none of these measures were approved.