l ROME: Buses grounded to a halt in the cash-strapped Italian city of Naples yesterday after the local public transport company said it could not afford fuel following a 40-percent cut in its budget. “We are not happy about causing you discomfort and we do not like looking like we are incapable because we are not,” the Naples Mobility Company said in an emotional statement on its website. “We know the transport service we are offering is insufficient to ensure mobility in Naples,” it said. The company said the service was reduced across the city and suspended entirely in three areas. It said the number of buses in the city had been cut from 600 three years ago to around 350 now due to reductions in budgets for salaries, maintenance, insurance and fuel totalling around 40 percent. Enraged Neapolitans vented their frustration on the company’s Facebook page with one user quipping: “We’ve really reached the end of the line” and another saying simply: “Public disservice.” The company addressed the response from users in its statement saying: “We understand your protests and complaints but we are really not the enemy.