The public transport fare prime cost does not exceed 80 AMD, Babken Pipoyan, Head of the Informed and Protected Consumer NGO, said at a press conference on Saturday.
The surveys conducted by the NGO prove this, he said. According to him, when substantiating the decision to increase the transport fare by 50 AMD, the Municipality of Yerevan misleads the consumers with false information. For instance, the Municipality says that the daily passenger operations of microbuses total 195 people, and monthly operations - 5850 people. These estimations have been made for a route that is 36 km long. However, if one studies these figures attentively, it turns out that on the 18 km section of the road (e.g. from Avan to Erebuni) the passenger traffic is 15 people, but in the reality the matter concerns at least 25-30 passengers, Pipoyan said. Thus, the monthly passenger traffic is 9750, not 5850.
The expert also touched on other statements of the Municipality. For instance, the Municipality says that the amortization costs for the buses are fixed at 316600 AMD, however, Pipoyan said that these costs are out of question, because the buses were donated. Pipoyan also criticized the statement that the expenses on the spare parts and current repairs are fixed at 65 thsd AMD. Though it is officially stated that this allows keeping the microbuses in a good condition, Pipoyan pointed out that in the reality the means of transport are mostly in an unsatisfactory condition.
According to the surveys of the Informed and Protected Consumer NGO, public transport brings excessive profit for 10 months in a year (summer vacation season put aside). So, the transport fare growth to 150 AMD is ungrounded. It was pointed out that it would be possible to appeal to court against this decision given the experts' assessments.
Activist Lusine Mnatsakanyan, in turn, urged the public to ignore the decision on the fare growth and pay 100 AMD as before. According to her, the activists have made 50-dram banknotes of a simple paper and have been giving them with 100 AMD to the drivers since morning.
To recall, on July 19 a protest of action was held in front of the Yerevan Municipality against the public transport fare growth. The protesters threw 50- dram coins at the central entrance of the Municipality.