Yerevan residents "did not appreciate" Avinyan`s innovations

ArmInfo.Yerevan residents "did not appreciate" the innovations of the current mayor of the Armenian capital Tigran Avinyan. This is evidenced by the results of the poll "Voice of Yerevan residents: ERROR 404", conducted by the  consulting company MPG. When asked to assess the changes in the city  over the past year, 28.8% of respondents called them extremely  negative, 20.4% said they were rather negative, 38.1% considered them  rather positive, and only 10.4% thought they were positive. Another  5.1% found it difficult to say.

It is noteworthy that these are the poorest results in the last three  years. For instance, in 2023, 17.8% of city residents were satisfied  with the city's innovations, 52.6% were somewhat satisfied, 27% of  the capital's residents were generally dissatisfied, and 2.6% were  undecided.  In 2022, 75% of respondents were generally satisfied with  the mayor's office activities, 20.3% were generally dissatisfied, and  another 4.8% found it difficult to answer.  When asked to assess the  increase in the cost of travel on public transport, 68.7% of  respondents said  they were extremely negative about this decision.  Another 15.2% were rather negative, 11.4% were rather positive, only  2% were positive, and 2.6% found it difficult to answer.  City  residents also negatively assessed the new payment system for  transport by the mayor's office. Thus, 49.5% of respondents rated it  extremely negatively, 13.5% - rather negatively, 26.1% - rather  positively, and only 7.8% - positively. Another 3.1% of respondents  found it difficult to answer.

When asked to rate Yerevan's public transport on a 5-point scale,  with 5 being excellent and 1 being unsatisfactory, city residents  rated the interval between buses arriving at stops at 2.7 points, bus  occupancy at 2.2, and technical condition at 3.8 points.  When asked  to name the positive changes made by the mayor's office over the past  year, 36.5% of respondents said they had not observed any, while  another 5% found it difficult to answer. However, 20.2% of  respondents positively rated the delivery of new buses to the city,  and 13.8% appreciated the improvement of courtyards.

At the same time, 28.3% of respondents are in favor of the mayor's  office implementing more landscaping projects, 21% support cultural  initiatives, 19.9% prefer children's programs, 19% prioritize city  cleaning, and 10.3% want more playgrounds built. 14.6% found it  difficult to answer, while another 14.5% gave a different answer.  Despite Avinyan's assurances that his innovations have been  significantly reduced traffic congestion in the city, 81.6% of  respondents believe that traffic jams in the city have actually  increased.  Only 2.5% think  that they have decreased, 14.8% believe  that have remained  the same, and  1.1% found it difficult to answer. 

Touching upon the most pressing problem of the city in both 2023 and  2024, city residents noted public transport as the main issue: with  32.9% and 32.2% of respondents naming it, respectively. The second  most important issue was the rising public transport prices,  indicated by 30.6% of respondents. 25.7% of residents named the poor  condition of the roads as a major issue. The top five problems  included a new transport payment system - 23.5% and ecology - 21.5%.

 Among the issues concerning citizens are problems with garbage  collection, parking, city cleanliness and stray dogs. When asked to  rate the performance of the mayor of Yerevan and the heads of the  administrative districts on a 5-point scale, the lowest score was   given to the mayor Tigran Avinyan - 2.5 points. The highest score was  given to the head of Davitashen - 3.5 points. The heads of  Nor-Marash, Nubarashen, Shengavit, and Malatya Sebastia all received  3.4 points each. Kanaker Zeytun received 3.3 points, Erebuni - 3.2  points, Avan, Nor-Nork, and Kentron - 3.1 points, Adjapnyak - 3  points, and the head of Arabkir received the lowest score of 2.9  points.

 When asked to evaluate the quality of public utilities on a 5-point  scale, Gazprom-Armenia showed the best result. City residents rated  the quality of gas supplies at 4.1 points and uninterrupted supply at  4.3 points. The citizens rated the uninterrupted supply of  electricity at 3.6 points and the quality at 3.9 points.  In terms of  water supply, the ratings were 3.9 points for quality of service and  3.7 points for uninterrupted supply. It should be noted that the  survey was conducted through telephone calls to Yerevan residents  from January 9 to 14 of this year, the sample size was 643, with a  sampling error of +/- 3.8%.