Tweet
BREAKING NEWS: Bus Fare Hike Suspended; People Win
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
http://asbarez.com/111970/bus-fare-hike-suspended-people-win/
Thursday, July 25th, 2013
by Ara Khachatourian
Demonstrators gather in front of Yerevan City Hall to protest the
fare hike
YEREVAN-Following days of angry protests against the City Council's
decision to hike public transportation fares by 50 percent, Mayor
Taron Margaryan issued a statement Thursday night reversing the
decision and rolling back the fares to their original amount.
The mayor announced that his has already begun the process of
creating a task-force of experts and interested individuals who will
closely analyze the decision of public transportation fare hikes and
enhancement of Yerevan's public transportation system, and until that
group's final report, he halted the execution of the fare hike.
In his statement Margaryan argued that upon assuming the mayor's
office, one of his main goals has been to upgrade the decaying
transportation system in Yerevan to ensure secure transport of all
passengers, thus justifying his decision to increase the fare.
Margaryan went on to say that burdening an already socio-economically
challenged public with the costs of improving the public transport
system was not his intention.
Protests, led mainly by youth activists started on Friday, a day before
the fare hike was to have gone into effect. Through social media and
mainly the online press, the protests, which began at bus stops sprang
into a public movement of outcry against city officials, who often
criticized the public for expressing their anger at the far hikes.
On Monday, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of
Armenia issued an announcementcondemning the fare hike decision and
urged the city government to re-evaluate the increases that were
becoming a burden of the people of Yerevan.
In it announcement, the ARF condemned the Armenian government's
shortsighted policies; demanded that the decision to increase public
transportation prices be halted and any fare increases be carried out
through a transparent mechanism corresponding to the increase of wages.
The party also suggested the establishment of a public-expert group,
to develop and propose a legal-collective system that includes multiple
rate plans, discount systems, formation of transportation cooperatives.
More important, the ARF welcomed and expressed it solidarity with those
groups and youth who are expressing their anger at this disgraceful
decision and through their activism are defending their and the
public's rights.
[ Part 2.2: "Attached Text" ]
http://asbarez.com/111970/bus-fare-hike-suspended-people-win/
Thursday, July 25th, 2013
by Ara Khachatourian
Demonstrators gather in front of Yerevan City Hall to protest the
fare hike
YEREVAN-Following days of angry protests against the City Council's
decision to hike public transportation fares by 50 percent, Mayor
Taron Margaryan issued a statement Thursday night reversing the
decision and rolling back the fares to their original amount.
The mayor announced that his has already begun the process of
creating a task-force of experts and interested individuals who will
closely analyze the decision of public transportation fare hikes and
enhancement of Yerevan's public transportation system, and until that
group's final report, he halted the execution of the fare hike.
In his statement Margaryan argued that upon assuming the mayor's
office, one of his main goals has been to upgrade the decaying
transportation system in Yerevan to ensure secure transport of all
passengers, thus justifying his decision to increase the fare.
Margaryan went on to say that burdening an already socio-economically
challenged public with the costs of improving the public transport
system was not his intention.
Protests, led mainly by youth activists started on Friday, a day before
the fare hike was to have gone into effect. Through social media and
mainly the online press, the protests, which began at bus stops sprang
into a public movement of outcry against city officials, who often
criticized the public for expressing their anger at the far hikes.
On Monday, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Supreme Council of
Armenia issued an announcementcondemning the fare hike decision and
urged the city government to re-evaluate the increases that were
becoming a burden of the people of Yerevan.
In it announcement, the ARF condemned the Armenian government's
shortsighted policies; demanded that the decision to increase public
transportation prices be halted and any fare increases be carried out
through a transparent mechanism corresponding to the increase of wages.
The party also suggested the establishment of a public-expert group,
to develop and propose a legal-collective system that includes multiple
rate plans, discount systems, formation of transportation cooperatives.
More important, the ARF welcomed and expressed it solidarity with those
groups and youth who are expressing their anger at this disgraceful
decision and through their activism are defending their and the
public's rights.