As is the case in almost all Iranian metropolises, Qom has its fair share of smog-inducing and dilapidated public transportation vehicles.
Abbas Zakerian, director of Transportation and Traffic Organization of Qom Municipality, agreed that the city’s transport fleet needs renovation to tackle the worsening air pollution, which is a common challenge facing most metropolises.
Zakerian noted that of the 5,800 taxis plying Qom’s streets, 1,700 belong to the scrap yard, Mehr News Agency reported.
“The last renovation in the city's taxi fleet took pace in 2016, when around 1,500 new vehicles joined the fleet," he said.
However, soaring car prices in Iran are a great impediment to renovations.
The sedan called Samand made by Iran Khodro—one of the common cars in the local taxi fleet—currently costs 880 million rials ($6,769) in the market. The same car would not fetch 370 million rials ($2,846) a year ago.
Another sedan popular with the financially struggling taxi drivers is Peugeot 405. Currently, a CNG-hybrid 405 model costs up to 790 million rials ($6,076) while it could be bought for 330 million ($2,538) last spring.
The cheapest vehicle in Iran today is SAIPA’s Pride at 500 million rials ($3,846), up from 220 million rials ($1,692) a year ago.
“Due to the car price hike, the frustratingly slow taxi renovation scheme announced in 2016 has been put on hold,” Morteza Zameni, the head of Iran Taxi Union, told ISNA.
The government, in collaboration with local banks and carmakers, offered a taxi renovation plan three years ago called “Nosazi” (meaning renovation in Persian) that only met with limited success.
Bus Fleet in Qom
The urban bus fleet in the city, however, seems to be in a better shape compared to the taxis, as the huge clunkers have been more frequently phased out and replaced with new ones.
Zakerian said that since 2017, nearly 100 new buses have been added to the bus transport fleet of Qom.
“At the start of the current fiscal year (started March 21), 40 new buses were inducted and 80 more are to be gradually delivered until October,” he added.
The municipality plans to repair 120 buses in the city in the coming months.
Currently, 300 buses are operating in the city's transport fleet, 170 of which are on life support.
