Boycott only way to struggle - ex-mayor of Yerevan

ArmInfo. Former mayor of Yerevan, member of the National Progress party Hayk Marutyan called on opposition parties to boycott the decision of the Council of Elders of the Yerevan City Hall to increase the cost of public transport.

Marutyan intended to take part in the meeting of the Council of  Elders, which is provided for by the law "On Local Self-Government",  having sent a corresponding application in advance. However, this was  denied to him. According to the ex-mayor, this speaks of the banal  fear of the current city authorities and the permanent nature of  violations of the law on their part.

"We will boycott the decision of the Council of Elders, and we urge  all opposition factions not to limit themselves to just voting  against the project, because they cannot be stopped this way, the  only option is a boycott," the leader of "National Progress"  emphasized.

Marutyan said that further actions of the faction would become known  only in August, announcing at the end of August and in September  actions by the National Progress, in which, in his opinion, Yerevan  residents would also take part. He called on the ruling party not to  waste time, effort and money, since in any case this decision will  not work in our city.

The former mayor suggested that the city authorities, along with the  proposed season tickets, keep the current option with a single  ticket, which was proposed by Marutyan during his tenure as mayor.  Thus, giving Yerevan residents the right to choose.

He recalled that a single ticket is a card that a citizen can top up  as much as he needs, and when using public transport (buses,  trolleybuses, metro), 100 drams will be debited from the card with  one touch.  Marutyan noted that there may be people who use public  transport a lot and in their case it would be more profitable to  purchase the monthly package offered by the current authorities. But  the majority of the population of Yerevan is not ready for the rise  in prices.

"They are introducing a project according to which travel on public  transport will cost 300 drams, instead of 100 drams. If we take into  account that a person uses transport once a day, going to work and  home, given that the monthly package is 8,800 drams, then it turns  out that he has to pay 2 times more than he travels. And we are  making such a decision in a city, a country where the poverty rate  exceeds 30%, where people live from paycheck to paycheck," he said.

The ex-mayor again reminded about subsidies, since new transport is  more expensive for the city authorities. He noted that while heading  the metropolitan municipality, he resorted to this mechanism, in  parallel with which work was carried out to install elevators, etc.  "They want to pass a law so as not to subsidize. But they are obliged  to subsidize," Marutyan said.