Tehran, Qom Investing in Public Transport Expansion

Major Iranian metropolises are making efforts to boost public transport services by expanding bus and taxi fleets and investing in subway projects.
In Tehran, following Tehran Taxi Organization’s collaboration with Omid Entrepreneurship Fund and a major domestic automaker Iran Khodro (IKCO), taxi drivers can replace their old vehicles with new ones, ISNA reported.
The plan is to offer cheap loans worth 400 million rials ($3,478) to taxi drivers to help gradually phase out 10,000 dilapidated taxis currently plying the capital’s streets.
According to Alireza Qannadan, the head of TTO, the automaker company will deliver to applicants Peugeot 405 models at the manufacturer's suggested retail price of 640 million rials ($5,565).
"To go through the process, cabbies are required to make a down payment of 80 million rials [$695] to register for the new cars and later pay the remaining 160 million rials [$1,391]," he said, without specifying whether 160 million rials need to be paid in installments or upon the delivery of the car.