Fewer buses on Argentina's streets as fuel costs rise and subsidies go unpaid

Public transport buses in the capital and its densely populated outskirts are running at reduced frequencies due to rising fuel prices linked to the war in the Middle East and delays in subsidy payments, industry sources said on Tuesday.

The drop in activity has led to long queues of passengers queueing at the main transport hubs connecting the capital with its surrounding areas. Some two million people commute between the two regions daily.

Some companies have cut the number of buses in circulation by between 20 percent and 30 percent, while in others the reduction stretched as high as 40 percent, said Marcelo Pasciuto, director of the Cámara Empresaria de Autotransporte de Pasajeros (CEAP), during an interview with Radio Futurock.

Operators warn that the reduction could worsen in the coming days.

The increase in oil prices triggered by the conflict in the Middle East has had a knock-on effect in Argentina, where fuel prices rose by nearly 21 percent on average in March, according to the Argentine Institute for Fiscal Analysis think tank.

“This is a consequence of the war in Iran and surge in oil prices, which has had a significant impact on transport companies, particularly from the second half of March,” Luciano Fusaro, president of the Asociación Argentina de Empresarios del Transporte Automotor (AAETA), told Radio Con Vos.

This comes on top of delays in subsidy payments dating back to the final four months of 2025, according to industry sources.

Fusaro said the costs used to calculate subsidies have risen. In January, diesel cost 1,700 pesos per litre (US$1.20), “but today it stands at 2,100 pesos,” he added.

Repeated increases in bus fares – which rose 16 percent in March alone – have also reduced passenger numbers. This month there were 12 percent fewer passengers than a year earlier, Fusaro said.

According to official data, transport is the largest expense within household utility bills, which have risen by nearly 600 percent since President Javier Milei took office in December 2023, amid subsidy cuts under his austerity programme.

The bus network in the capital and its surrounding areas operates around 17,000 vehicles.

Argentina’s Transport Secretariat said late Tuesday it would transfer outstanding subsidies to private bus firms in the next 24 hours. ​

“The national subsidies will be paid to the companies tomorrow, on the fourth working day of the month. It is up to them” to restore normal services and withdraw any strike threat,” said a spokesperson for the department.

“We are doing what needs to be done: paying them and meeting with them,” said the spokesperson to the Noticias Argentinas news agency.

– TIMES/AFP/NA