As the pandemic-related remote working rules are being revoked gradually in Tehran, private vehicles swarm the city's streets and the specter of heavy traffic and air pollution returns.
According to the Traffic Police Department, road traffic in Tehran has increased by 20% and the number of private cars on the roads has jumped by 18% compared to the pre-coronavirus period.
"The city's traffic restriction has concentrated the volume of traffic in the evening rush hours," IRNA quoted the department as saying.
Tehran’s residents, on the one hand, are dismayed to see that even after all these years, the metropolis is still plagued by such traffic jams without any hope of relief.
On the other, officials speak of heavy traffic as if the congested roads are a new phenomenon, although the capital city has always been notorious for its traffic gridlocks.
According to official data, more than 4.3 million cars ply Tehran's streets every day, which is six times the capacity of the roads.
The municipality's efforts to encourage people to leave their cars in parking lots and take public transportation have been futile. As a result, one can barely find a parking space in the city on working days.
People spend hours wandering around the streets looking for a parking spot, because of which they are compelled to leave home hours earlier. Such wandering cars contribute to traffic congestion and air pollution.
According to the Tehran Air Quality Control Company, a thick blanket of pollutants, caused by the toxic emissions of cars and intensified by temperature inversion, has enveloped the city these days, raising the Air Quality Index to dangerous levels.
AQI categorizes conditions dictated by a measure of polluting matters into good (0-50), moderate (51-100), unhealthy for sensitive groups (101-150), unhealthy (151-200), very unhealthy (201-300) and hazardous (301-500).
TAQCC data show that in the past Iranian month (Oct. 23-Nov. 21), the air quality status was unhealthy for the sensitive group on 17 days, with the average daily AQI hovering between 101 and 150.
During the polluted days, the vulnerable group, including cardiovascular and respiratory patients, elderly, children and pregnant women, has been warned to limit their outdoor activities to minimize the air pollution’s harmful effect on their health.
In the absence of winds and rainfall, Tehran appears to be becoming duller and less livable year after year.
Zero Scrappage and Decrepit Public Transportation
Approximately 400,000 new vehicles are added to Tehran’s roads each year, but the scrappage rate is close to zero, Jafar Tashakkori, chairman of the Transportation Commission of Tehran City Council, told the media.
According to the official, over 40,000 dilapidated taxis circulate in Tehran, more than 90% of the bus fleet are worn out and subway expansion is behind schedule.
"Of course, the public transportation’s shortfalls cannot be remedied overnight. In Tehran, we are facing a historical backwardness. The severe deficiency of urban public transportation system and its deteriorating condition during the coronavirus outbreak have led people to use private cars and ignore public transportation," he said.
Currently, 1.2 million passengers use the subway and 800,000 take the bus daily. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, the figure had reached an all-time high of 2.8 million.
This is while, according to Tashakkori, the bus network with 6,500 buses has a capacity of 4 million passengers.
"Unfortunately, only 2,200 buses are operational in Tehran's fleet, with only 200 of them being reliable and safe. We need to add 1,000 vehicles every year to offer an acceptable mobility service," he added.
According to Tashakkori, one of the reasons for this backwardness is the government's recent neglect of the transportation sector.
"Until 2010, the government had helped the city administration add approximately 800 new buses to the transportation fleet each year. However, this assistance has nearly ceased and all purchases, although limited, have been made solely with funds provided by the Tehran Municipality," he said.
The Only Solution at Hand
Due to the illegal US sanctions reimposed since 2018, the government has been facing resource constraints and there is a problem of transferring currency in foreign purchases.
Tashakkori noted that the low capacity of local producers and the high price of foreign buses have left no choice but to overhaul the city’s transport fleet using domestic potentials.
“The case is the same in the subway sector, as there should be about one train per kilometer of railroad to maintain an approximate four-minute headway,” he added.
Tehran has 300 kilometers of subway line, for which only 170 trains are active, which means about 130 trains are yet to be added to offer an acceptable mobility service.
Early this month, the government promised to finance the purchase of 1,050 wagons.
Tashakkori said based on these talks, 630 wagons will be supplied by foreign companies and 420 will be ordered from domestic producers.
“The foreign purchase plan dates back to early 2018, when a Chinese rail company and Tehran Wagon Manufacturing Company won the tender to supply 630 cars to Tehran's subway.”
The urban managers, however, mainly blame mismanagement and financial issues for the lack of progress in this regard.
