ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMERS: PRICE INCREASE IN YEREVAN UNDERGROUND FARE WILL BRING TO THE REDUCTION OF PASSENGERS
/ARKA/
JUNE 22, 2011
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. Number of users of Yerevan underground will
reduce in average by 10-20% in the result of price increase of one
fare", said the Chairman of Consumers' Association of Armenia Armen
Poghosyan in the conference on Wednesday.
Yerevan City Mayor Karen Karapetyan announced that the fare of Yerevan
underground will go up two times from July 1 - from current price of
50 drams (about 0.13 dollars) to 100 drams (about 0.26 dollars).
Yerevan municipality informs that the existing fare does not cover the
real expenses of transportation of one passenger (in the 1st quarter
of 2011, transportation expenses of one passenger was 160 drams).
"I agree that the underground does not cover its expenses but I
should say that it is the same worldwide. Nowhere in the world, the
city transport, especially electrical transport not covers its real
expenses and the state has always subsidized it", said Poghosyan.
Expenses of urban transport should be covered not on the account of
the fare, but by different infrastructures.
Price increase of underground fare will be a serious blow not only
for the consumers but also the development of electrical transport
in Yerevan.
"According to the general plan of Yerevan, the number of microbuses
should not exceed 19.2% of total number of transport, but today
microbuses make about 75%. Instead of reducing the number of microbuses
which is envisaged by the plan of the city, we create conditions for
the increase of their number", he said.
Losses of the underground in the last 20 years are conditioned by the
fact that construction of new stations or one kilometer of underground
line was not built in Yerevan.
"The underground reaps as what has sown. If the underground lines
were increased for about 10%, the number of users would be increased
by 30%", he said.
/ARKA/
JUNE 22, 2011
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. Number of users of Yerevan underground will
reduce in average by 10-20% in the result of price increase of one
fare", said the Chairman of Consumers' Association of Armenia Armen
Poghosyan in the conference on Wednesday.
Yerevan City Mayor Karen Karapetyan announced that the fare of Yerevan
underground will go up two times from July 1 - from current price of
50 drams (about 0.13 dollars) to 100 drams (about 0.26 dollars).
Yerevan municipality informs that the existing fare does not cover the
real expenses of transportation of one passenger (in the 1st quarter
of 2011, transportation expenses of one passenger was 160 drams).
"I agree that the underground does not cover its expenses but I
should say that it is the same worldwide. Nowhere in the world, the
city transport, especially electrical transport not covers its real
expenses and the state has always subsidized it", said Poghosyan.
Expenses of urban transport should be covered not on the account of
the fare, but by different infrastructures.
Price increase of underground fare will be a serious blow not only
for the consumers but also the development of electrical transport
in Yerevan.
"According to the general plan of Yerevan, the number of microbuses
should not exceed 19.2% of total number of transport, but today
microbuses make about 75%. Instead of reducing the number of microbuses
which is envisaged by the plan of the city, we create conditions for
the increase of their number", he said.
Losses of the underground in the last 20 years are conditioned by the
fact that construction of new stations or one kilometer of underground
line was not built in Yerevan.
"The underground reaps as what has sown. If the underground lines
were increased for about 10%, the number of users would be increased
by 30%", he said.