Beginning on Saturday, bus, taxi and metro fares went up , based on a bill approved by Tehran City Council to increase public transport fares in the new Iranian year (started March 21), head of the Council Mehdi Chamran said, Tabnak reported.
The bill on the price hike of public transport was presented at the 126th meeting of the council held on January 25, and aims at the improvement of public transport in line with the objectives of the ‘Subsidy Reform Plan’ launched by the government in December 2010. The bill was approved by the majority of councilors and was subsequently signed by Tehran Governor, Hossein Hashemi.
According to the bill approved by the governor, metro fares increased 500 rials ($0.01) on average for electronic fare cards-which is less compared to cash, in order to encourage citizens to use fare cards instead of cash payments. Also the price of single-trip and sweep-trip tickets will be 6000 rials ($0.18) and 10,000 rials ($0.3) respectively.
Accordingly, fares of public and private buses were raised slightly, while taxi fares rose 20%. “All taxi and bus drivers are required to adhere to the approved prices, and would be fined in case of overcharging,” Chamran stressed, adding that all related sectors have taken initiatives to implement the measures from April 4.
