To improve the quality of public transportation in the capital, 200 new Hyundai Accent taxis compliant with Euro 5 standards were unveiled in Tehran on Tuesday.
Meysam Mozaffar, the head of Tehran’s Taxi Organization, stressed that the quality of cars used in the taxi fleet is of utmost importance.
“If car quality does not improve, other measures taken to restructure the public transportation fleet will not bear meaningful results,” local automotive website Car Net quoted him as saying.
Mozaffar added that taxi companies own a total of 800 modern, fuel-efficient vehicles that have allowed them to hire drivers and create jobs.
With sufficient financial support, the number of new vehicles is planned to increase by more than twofold to 2,000 by the end of the year, creating even more jobs. With the realization of this plan, 120 billion rials ($3.5 million) can be saved as fuel consumption will decrease.
“Currently, 17,000 dilapidated taxis ply the streets of the capital, 6,300 of which are Paykans. Each Paykan produces 10 kilograms of pollutants every day, which translates into 3,600 kilograms of pollutants on an annual basis,” he said.
The official added that more than 1,100 taxis were renovated and 3,134 dilapidated taxis were taken off the streets in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2016).
“A total of 2,000 new taxis will be delivered to drivers over the course of the coming weeks,” he said.
Mozaffar explained that by employing cutting-edge technologies, TTO intends to help create a more organized fleet.
“To improve the social behavior of drivers, the organization will also set up a taxi drivers’ university,” he said.
SAIPA’s Ario and Toyota’s Camry hybrids were previously added to taxi fleets in Iran to help reduce air pollution.
