Yerevan Municipality revises transport fares down 

ArmInfo. Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan announced a new tariff for public transport, according to which the fare will be reduced from 300 to 150 drams, which means that the authorities are taking a step back under pressure from  society. A similar opinion was expressed by former mayor of the  capital Hayk Marutyan, who commented on the new decision of the  mayor's office.

Marutyan expressed his conviction that the current government does  not have reasonable calculations and real plans. "They have only one  goal - to rob the people," Marutyan said, recalling that the new  tariff, according to the statement of the head of the capital's  municipality, will be in effect throughout 2025, until another  decision is made.

At the same time, Marutyan said that the opposition in the City  Council of Elders intends to continue to boycott the tariff changes.  "This demand remains in force, as does the boycott. I think you have  all seen that when we are together and the people are united, no  government can ignore the demands of citizens," the former mayor  said, calling for the general boycott to continue from February 1.

In turn, the leader of the Mother Armenia opposition faction in the  Yerevan City Council Andranik Tevanyan also responded to the  statement by the city hall. He noted that the authorities, headed by  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, continue the "Turkish bazaar" with  the population on public transport issues. In this vein, Tevanyan  drew attention to the fact that the reduction of the tariff to 150  drams is accompanied by the preservation of various fare packages.

"This means that our pressure is yielding results, and the  authorities have actually admitted that they previously inflated the  cost of travel.

Now they are offering to pay 150 drams until they decide on further  actions," Tevanyan noted, calling on citizens to continue to exercise  their right and boycott the increase in transport prices.

At the same time, Marutyan stated that the opposition in the City  Council intends to continue to boycott the tariff changes. "This  demand remains in force, as does the boycott. I think you have all  seen that when we are together and the people are united, no  government can ignore the demands of citizens," the former mayor  said, calling for the general boycott to continue from February 1.

He recalled the initiative of his faction, which collected 17  thousand signatures in favor of keeping the tariff at 100 drams. In  addition, he assured that the opposition has its own calculations on  the proposed packages, which may turn out to be more profitable.  "There is no need to succumb to manipulation; the boycott must  continue. The Mother Armenia faction will insist on discussing our  proposal. If it is not accepted, we will initiate collecting 10% of  the votes for a referendum," Tevanyan emphasized, calling on citizens  to avoid buying the expensive packages offered by the mayor's office.

The day before, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan announced that a new  tariff would be introduced from February 1, according to which the  cost of one ride would be 150 drams. He noted that this tariff would  be in effect throughout 2025 and assured that this decision would  help solve other problems, such as long waits at bus stops, the need  for constant renewal of the bus fleet and the issue of overloading  public transport. He added that after 2025, the fare may increase by  10 drams and amount to 160 drams with a long-term increase in price.  At the same time, as Avinyan assured, due to their desire for people  to try the new ticket system, the validity of ticket packages  purchased in January and February will be extended for another month.

The head of the capital's municipality also assured that he had  familiarized himself with all the citizens' appeals, noting that  their goal is to provide people with the opportunity to choose the  most suitable option.  However, speaking about the imported buses,  Avinyan did not mention that it was the dimensions of the new  vehicles that created traffic jams on the capital's roads, and the  exclusion of the possibility of paying for travel in cash led to a  failure of the system accepting QR codes.

Earlier, according to the draft presented by the city hall, a new  single tariff for travel on public transport was to be applied in the  capital of Armenia from February 1, 2025. On average, transport for  citizens would have become 3-6 times more expensive, depending on the  transport that would have been used. According to the Yerevan City  Hall, on condition of one-time use in each vehicle, the cost of three  trips would have been 280-300 drams, which caused a great public  outcry and discontent in society. Let us also recall that just two  days ago, on January 27, at a working meeting in the capital's  municipality, Tigran Avinyan branded the opposition with shame,  assuring that the new transport reform would help solve many problems  of public transport. In particular, he pointed out that the use of  the new ticket system would help solve the issue of purchasing 250  electric buses.

Such a sharp turn of events caused an ambiguous reaction in Armenian  society. The expert community is confident that the mayor received  another SMS message from higher authorities with a proposal to  slightly increase the tariff, which is important in the year of the  actual start of the election campaign in the country.