Fines must be imposed for nonpayment of fares - Yerevan mayor 

ArmInfo.  Fines should be imposed for failure to pay public transport fares. This was stated by Mayor Tigran Avinyan during a working session of the Yerevan City Hall on  May 19.

In this vein, he called on those responsible to work more intensively  with their colleagues from the National Assembly of the Republic of  Armenia in order to introduce relevant legislative regulations.

At the same time, the mayor noted that the opposition-initiated  boycott of non-payment of public transport fares has affected  Yerevan's revenues. In particular, as noted during the working  session, in the period from January to April of this year, instead of  the planned 25.5 billion drams, a total of 21.9 billion drams in  revenues were collected.

Avinyan emphasized that as a result of such an approach by a small  number of city residents, the quality of services provided in the  transport sector will suffer first and foremost. At the same time, he  expressed gratitude to the city residents who approach the issue of  paying for travel responsibly, despite the fact that there are no  regulations or controllers yet. Avinyan noted that the percentage of  such city residents reaches 75-80%.

Since February 1, a new price for public transport has come into  effect in Yerevan - 150 drams instead of the previous 100 drams. The  mayor's office has also developed package offers for 30, 90 and 365  days. The opposition in the Council of Elders called for a boycott of  this decision, strongly recommending that city residents continue to  pay the old price for travel. Since February 1, a boycott has been  underway in Yerevan against the increase in transport prices. During  the protests, opposition members of the Council of Elders have  repeatedly stated that drivers do not have the right to demand money  or to kick passengers off for non-payment.