Tehran Municipality’s long overdue plan for curbing air pollution took off at the weekend. The so-called Air Pollution Reduction (APR) plan bans dilapidated vehicles from the sprawling capital to help improve air quality in the city that is home to 12 million people and four million motor vehicles.
The APR plan established by the TM was initially announced in summer stating that clunkers and dilapidated vehicles will be banished and those who violate the rules will be fined 500,000 rials ($4). The scheme was to be implemented on Oct. 24. However, the Traffic Police demanded delays. With mounting pressure from environmentalists, the police relented and the scheme was launched on Nov. 24.
Head of Tehran Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau Navvab Hosseini says, “The Air Pollution Reduction plan was launched at the weekend. As of Nov. 24, those violating the rules and regulations will be fined 500,000 rials ($4),” Alef.ir reported.
“On Saturday from among the 800,000 vehicles in Tehran 80,000 did not have their motor technical inspection papers. Tickets (fines) were issued for all vehicles lacking the mandatory inspections,” he said.
Due to public holidays on occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) culminating in the weekend, the permanently clogged streets of Tehran were not as crowded as they always are. On normal days, more than four million vehicles ply the overcrowded roads and alleys in Tehran that has expanded monstrously in four directions.
The infrastructure for implementing the APR plan is in place. However, to help improve the effectiveness of the scheme new surveillance cameras are being installed in the capital, the chief technical inspector said.
Going Smart Against Pollution
He said Tehran Municipality’s ICT Organization is setting up a smart online platform which will provide authorities and decision makers data on vehicles in non-compliance with the rules outlined in the APR plan.
Data collected by the cameras will be processed and compartmentalized. For instance, with the help of online platform authorities will be able to determine were vehicles without the inspections were spotted by the surveillance cameras. The platform also can be used to create an interactive map showing where the infringements take place.
The platform also can assist authorities to make informed decisions to launch in-field operations and encourage motorists to get their vehicles checked and fixed.
To increase people’s access to the spherical inspection centers, the bureau is running tests 24/7. To get their vehicles tested between midnight and 5 a.m. drivers need to make an online appointment through the website services27.tehran.ir. Drivers visit the inspection centers across the capital during working hours with or without an appointment.
Over the past two months, the bureau has also been conducting field checks of commercial vehicles’ compliance with the new emission standards. According to Hosseini, since mid-September and in collaboration with Traffic Police, the center has carried out field inspections of over 1,100 heavy-duty vehicles and buses in Tehran. “Among those tested 33% needed repairs.”
Hosseini appealed the residents to report polluting vehicles to the TM through its call center. People can call 1888 and give the vehicles’ license plate number to the operator.
Efficient Monitoring
Mohsen Pour-Seyed Aqaei, TM's managing director for Transportation and Traffic Organization earlier said the number of traffic surveillance cameras on the main roadways has increased from 300 to over 1,240 creating an “efficient monitoring network” together with field surveillance by Traffic Police.
“Initially we will focus on bannng dilapidated commercial vehicles because they alone are responsible for over 50% of the toxic emissions” in the capital that has much more than its share of gas-guzzlers.
The APR is part of a phased scheme introduced in 2015 in line with the Clean Air Act. The first phase envisioned for curbing air pollution in Tehran took effect in October 2016, involving control of technical inspection papers in restricted traffic zones -- an 80sqm area in central parts of the capital in which only public buses and cars/vans with special permits are allowed to enter during working hours.
