Iran’s ailing public transportation will soon get a boost with 5,000 dilapidated buses being overhauled in 68 cities, the deputy head of Plan and Budget Organization said.
During a Tuesday meeting in Tehran, PBO officials, mayors of the 68 cities and Omid Entrepreneurship Fund signed a contract for servicing the old buses, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Based on the deal, the fund will pay cheap loans worth 2.24 billion rials ($8,000) to bus owners. The loans will be offered with a 4% interest rate and a repayment period of five years.
The remaining expenses are to be covered by municipalities and owners. Further details will be announced by the authorities later.
“Of the total number of buses covered by the scheme, 1,700 will be revamped from the capital city of Tehran and Isfahan, 1,600 from Karaj, Ahvaz and Kermanshah and the rest from other cities,” Hamid Pour-Mohammadi, a PBO deputy, said.
“The restoration scheme is to improve public transportation services in metropolises, increase the employment rate in the sector, improve ventilation systems that benefits passengers, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak, help curb the suffocating air pollution, increase the efficiency of fuel consumption and boost transportation safety.”
To help overcome the challenging task of overhauling the dilapidated urban bus fleet in the country, the Industries Ministry has also stepped in.
Mehdi Sadeqi Niyaraki, a deputy industries minister, met representatives of the ministries of interior and roads, and Tehran Municipality in late September, to discuss the necessity of streamlining passenger fleet that has outlived its usefulness.
Based on the multilateral agreement reached in the meeting, 2,000 urban buses will be overhauled under a long-term scheme.
According to arrangements, half of the dilapidated buses will be from Tehran and the rest will come from other metropolises.
Niyaraki emphasized that the scheme will help mobilize the potentials of domestic automakers and PBO is committed to financing the plan.
History of Plans
Streamlining the ailing public transportation system in Tehran has long been a point of concern for the city’s urban managers.
Last year in July, TM signed an agreement with Omid Entrepreneurship Fund to allocate 12.5 trillion rials ($45.12 million) in cheap loans for the expansion of public transportation system in the capital.
Replacing smog-inducing motorcycles with electric bikes, expanding biking facilities, providing vehicles with pollution absorbents and high-quality catalyst converters, and upgrading air quality monitoring equipment were also on the TM agenda.
Additionally, in mid-June 2019, 13 buses and 117 minibuses produced by domestic automakers, such as Iran Khodro, Bahman Khodro and Sabalan Khodro, were inducted to upgrade the aging public transportation network of Tehran.
Last summer, TM announced that it started restoring 500 dilapidated buses that have outlived their usefulness.
“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,” Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi said at the time.
While such positive measures are gaining momentum, they seem to be ineffective because of the growing number of dilapidated buses plying the streets of Tehran.
According to Tehran Bus Company, 6,500 buses are operating in the transportation fleet of Tehran, more than half of which are dilapidated. This is while the capital needs at least 9,000 buses to offer decent transportation services to the public.
Economic Headwinds
Considering the economic hardships facing Iran due to the reimposition of US sanctions, the renovation of the transportation fleet has become difficult.
The price of new passenger vehicles and eco-friendly motorcycles has seen a threefold jump, 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 277,000 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 schemes for overhauling the transportation fleet. However, with the help of the government and automakers, urban planners are devising solutions to implement these schemes.
The commitment of officials concerned and the timely allocation of funds will ensure these efforts yield the desired result.
