Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Iran in mid-February 2020, Tehran’s bus fleet has lost 67% of its earning and is on the verge of bankruptcy, the head of Tehran Bus Company said.
Mahmoud Tarfa added that 30% of Tehran buses are either inactive or operating with long headways due to the declining number of passengers. Many bus drivers have lost their jobs, Hamshahri Online quoted the official as saying.
Prior to the pandemic, 1.8 million passengers used buses daily, which number has shrunk below 500,000.
“Since the US reimposed sanctions against Iran in 2018, Tehran Metro and Tehran Bus Company have been making losses. In addition, the spread of the novel coronavirus dealt another blow to the sector, further reducing the number of people using public transportation,” he added.
According to Tarfa, the total number of drivers in Tehran’s public transportation sector is 5,500, which include employees of both state and private companies.
“During the previous year, drivers received a small financial aid quarterly to help with their expenses. The money, albeit minimal, assisted drivers in adhering to the Covid-19 health guidelines by allowing them to prepare sanitizers and facemasks,” he said.
The only way to make public transportation safer for both passengers and drivers, according to city management, is to add new cars to the fleet.
Tarfa noted that new deals are being negotiated with local automakers and foreign suppliers to expand the capital city's transportation fleet.
“TBC purchased 250 buses and minibuses for the metropolis last year. Another 300 cars are expected to be added to the public transportation system,” he added.
The TBC chief said revenues from participatory bonds, aid from Tehran Municipality and private investments could be used to fund the purchases.
Struggling Bus Fleet
Speaking to reporters, Tarfa earlier said challenges facing public transportation are not new.
“Tehran’s buses are already inadequate and dilapidated, and unable to provide decent transport services to citizens. More than half of Tehran buses are over 12 years old and every day more than 300 buses break down due to technical problems,” he said, adding that us drivers are not even recovering their expense.
Pointing to the fact that the government has overlooked the sector over the past decade, Tarfa said, “We should wait and see if government officials will eventually give support to the public transport system by the end of the current year.”
Last year in May, Alikhani stressed that with the spread of the viral disease, a majority of people have opted for private vehicles over public means of transportation for daily commutation.
"Normally, the public transport system handled over five million travels a day, which figure has shrunk to under one million these days, hurting the livelihood of bus and taxi drivers," he said.
“Cab and bus fleets operate with a lot of empty seats, while most vehicles on the road are being used for purposes like shopping.”
The government is encouraging people to stay home and use private cars for commuting, only when necessary.
However, challenges have emerged ever since, including a huge loss of income for the public transportation system, including taxis, buses and the subway.
The loss of revenue should be added to the extra expenditure spent on disinfectants and protective items used in the fleet.
Hazardous Vehicles
Talks of public transportation’s idle capacity have raised concerns over the high risk of contamination in public vehicles.
Yousef Hojjat, the head of Tehran Municipality’s Transportation and Traffic Organization, said a large number of people who do not own a private car inevitably take a bus or taxi, or use the subway, to get to work.
“Keeping a reasonable distance between passengers becomes almost impossible when the number of passengers cannot be controlled," he said.
“The virus is still spreading and infecting people in the city and the situation has not normalized. The resumption of social activities can make it tough to handle mortalities related to the disease.”
Similarly, Mohsen Hashemi, the chairman of TCC, reiterated the warnings of Health Ministry and professionals over the risk of contamination among those using public means of transportation.
“Public vehicles are more polluted compared to universities and schools, so extra care should be taken by citizens using them,” he said.
Adding to his concerns, Hashemi said the ventilation system of subway trains is concentrated, which means that the air in wagons is constantly circulating and combining with the air outside the train.
“This means one infected person in a train car can potentially pollute the air in all cars,” he added.
Hashemi noted that social distancing is almost impossible in a crowded city like Tehran unless more buses, taxis and train cars are added to the public transportation fleet.
The novel coronavirus has so far taken the lives of 78,597 people out of a total of 2,832,518 infected people.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry, 2,333,789 patients have so far recovered from the disease.
