Transport Strikes Hit Three Regions, and Marche Counts Its Cars

Walkouts by local transport workers are set to affect passengers in three Italian regions this week, with further strikes expected the following week, according to The Local Italy. The outlet did not name the regions involved in this round of industrial action.

The same publication reported separately that Rome ranks fifth of thirty European cities for the affordability of its public transport, though it noted the network is not without its problems. The two items sit awkwardly together: a capital that is cheap to ride and a workforce that keeps stopping work.

Figures released this month by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, the ACEA, put Italy's car density at roughly 0.70 passenger cars per inhabitant, the highest in the European Union and well above the bloc average of about 0.57. Any week in which buses and trains stop is, in most of the country, a week in which the car absorbs the difference.