Armenia`s authorities raising transport fares to purchase $17,500 air  tickets - opposition MP

ArmInfo. The well-fed will not understand the hungry, Tadevos Avetisyan, a member of the National Assembly from the opposition faction "Armenia", told  journalists, commenting on the 50% increase in public transport fares  from February 1.

The deputy shared his impressions from a conversation in transport  with an old lady who receives a pension of 44 thousand drams. This  old lady, as the deputy noted, makes 4 trips a day, for which  yesterday she paid 800 drams, and today she pays 50% more.

"It is unclear what the authorities are trying to achieve. Earlier,  they significantly increased taxes on housing and garbage, and now it  is the turn of transport. However, for the mayor of Yerevan, who paid  7 million drams ($17.5 thousand) for a plane ticket to the USA, it is  difficult to understand why this old lady does not have enough money  even for transport," the parliamentarian said, adding that instead of  imagining oneself as a sheikh on the plane, it is necessary to  remember that for such people, living on a pension of 36 thousand  drams, even 5 thousand drams are a vital problem.

Avetisyan added that for the authorities, raising the fare on public  transport is necessary in order to once again receive high salaries,  bonuses and buy plane tickets for $17.5 thousand.