A worker earning 26,000 denars who commutes daily from Tetovo to Skopje has been paying 6,500 denars a month for a bus pass since 1 September.

That is a quarter of the salary, handed over before any bread is bought.

The monthly pass on that route went up from 5,500 to 6,500 denars. On the Skopje - Kumanovo route, from 5,000 to 6,000. For Gostivar, the monthly pass now costs 8,000 denars.

The annual bill

When you multiply the monthly cost by twelve, the numbers look different.

Kumanovo - Skopje: 72,000 denars a year. Tetovo - Skopje: 78,000. Kavadarci - Skopje, where the monthly pass is 7,500 denars: 90,000 denars.

And if someone has no monthly pass and buys two single tickets a day at 250 denars each, over 22 working days the cost reaches 11,000 denars a month. That is 132,000 denars a year, purely to reach the workplace.

Who pays what

Prices differ by route and by operator, and a monthly pass does not exist everywhere.

From Veles the monthly is 5,500 denars, a single 200. From Štip a single is 360, a return 650, and there is no monthly pass. From Strumica one way costs 650 denars, and a return ticket is no longer offered. From Bitola a single is 600, a return 950. From Ohrid a single is 980 denars, a return 1,380 - raised this summer. For Kičevo the price depends on the operator and ranges from 480 to 580 denars one way.

That means a commuter from Štip or Strumica working in Skopje does not even have the option of a monthly pass. They pay the full price every day.

The question the petition asks

A group of citizens and regular commuters has launched a petition "For fair intercity transport prices". The demands are not for a price freeze - they are for an explanation.

They ask which economic parameters the new prices were formed on. Who checks whether they are justified. Who supervises the application of the price lists. And why passengers were not clearly and promptly informed about the date the increase took effect and the reasons for it.

Those are four questions somebody has an obligation to answer. Note that none of them asks for money - they ask only for a rationale. Usually those are precisely the hardest questions to answer.

What happens if no answer comes

The initiative warns of the outcome they want least: people will switch to private cars, or start thinking about moving to Skopje.

The same city pays for both consequences. More cars mean more congestion and more pollution in a basin that already struggles to breathe. And moving away means one more emptied place in Tetovo, Kumanovo or Veles.

Transport to work is not a luxury item in a household budget. When that cost reaches a quarter of the salary, the person is no longer calculating whether to travel - they are calculating whether the job is worth it at all.