Hayazn Party demands revocation of fare increase decision

Hayazn Party will stage a protest against the decision about the public transport fares’ increase. The protest will start at 4:00 pm tomorrow, on July 23 outside the Yerevan Municipality. Protesters will submit a letter with their demands and then walk to the Armenian government.

In a statement issued by its press service, the party particularly says:

“The official substantiation of the fare increase contains exaggerated data; in particular, the number of passengers was reduced. Given the real number of passengers, the public transport fare should be 70 AMD at most.

We are convinced that Yerevan residents would not oppose an increase in transport fares if that price were in line with the quality of services provided. However, if the only meaning of the price increase is to ensure super profits of some privileged persons, then public protest is inevitable. Hayazn Party joins that protest.

We demand:

1. Revocation of the decision on the increase in the public transport fares.

2. Elimination of the institution of private owners of fixed-run transport lines, socialization of passenger transportation in the capital city, imposing the responsibility on the Municipality that should also dispose of profits.

3. Ensuring a sufficient number of cars running on routes, including at late and rush hours. Transportation of a large number of passengers should be ruled out.

4. Improvement of the payment system by using card payments, more flexible tariffs based on the distance of the route and the time of use, as well as giving privileges to passengers who often use transport services and the needy ones.

5. Ensuring the correspondence of drivers’ workload with labor legislation, payment of more adequate wages. The dependence of their remuneration on the number of passengers should be ruled out.

6. Ensuring that the passenger compartments and seats meet the requirements. Drivers should be exempted from car repair expenses, and responsibility for technical state of the vehicle should be imposed on the company.

7. Specification of the rules of the proper service and their observance.

8. Ensuring discussions of tariff issues following the abovementioned reforms, with exact reasons and arguments to be provided”.

We would remind you that on July 20 the fares of buses and minibuses in Yerevan were increased from 100 to 150 AMD. Trolleybus fares increased from 50 to 100 AMD. The increase in public transport fares has caused public discontent.