As part of efforts to renovate the aging transportation network of Tehran, 13 buses and 117 minibuses were added to its public transportation fleet on Tuesday.
Unveiled by Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi during a ceremony, the vehicles are all made by domestic automakers, such as Iran Khodro, Bahman Khodro and Sabalan Khodro, ISNA reported.
The vehicles have been purchased using revenues generated through the collection of fines from air pollution reduction and traffic schemes underway in the capital.
Hanachi said TM has started renovating 500 dilapidated buses that have outlived their usefulness.
“The government of President Hassan Rouhani has backed TM’s efforts for renovating and expanding Tehran’s public transportation fleet,” he said.
“Inefficient public transportation fleet is one of the worst problems afflicting the residents of Tehran. Addressing the issue is high on the municipality’s agenda.”
No Easy Task
Considering the economic hardships facing Iran due to the reimposition of US sanctions, the renovation of transportation fleet is no easy task.
Due to the recent economic headwinds, the price of new buses and minibuses has seen a threefold leap, just like any other commodity.
After US President Donald Trump reneged on Iran’s nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions against Tehran last summer, the Iranian rial lost almost 70% of its value over the past year.
On Wednesday, the US dollar was traded at 132,000 rials in Tehran while it hardly fetched 42,000 rials in March 2018.
Following the reimposition of sanctions, many foreign suppliers of vehicles and parts suspended collaboration with Iranian firms. The country cannot afford to import new buses in large numbers and local manufacturers do not have an adequate volume of parts to boost production.
These factors have derailed transportation fleet renovation schemes. However, with the help of the government and automakers, urban planners are devising solutions to implement these schemes. Only time will show whether these efforts have yielded the desired results.
Nationwide Push
In tandem with this move, Iran's urban bus transportation union and local auto manufacturers recently signed a contract, based on which 1,000 new minibuses will be added to the country's public transport fleet, with Tehran's share amounting to 500.
The minibuses are to be delivered by November.
According to Mohsen Moslemkhani, the union's director, municipalities and transportation entities can purchase new vehicles using aid packages and loans.
"To facilitate purchases, cheap loans will be offered to applicants by the Post Bank of Iran," he said.
Each minibus costs 3 billion rials ($22,700).
Critics say the vehicles added to Tehran's transportation fleet are meager, given the increasing number of dilapidated buses.
According to Tehran Bus Company, currently, 6,500 buses are operating in the transportation fleet of Tehran, more than half of which are a wreck. This is while the capital needs at least 9,000 buses to offer decent transportation services to the public.
Officials say 17,000 buses in the public transportation fleet, including both urban and intercity buses, are ready to be phased out. There is no reliable data on the precise number of buses currently operating in the country.
