Epress.am News from Armenia
Outside Rossiya shopping mall in Yerevan earlier today, taxis were parked in the area reserved for as a bus stop for public transportation vehicles with taxi drivers protesting a ban by road police and city employees to park in the area.
“Right now, the area set aside for taxis is empty, and taxi drivers have stubbornly parked [their cars] at the stop for public transportation [vehicles]. We’ve allocated space for 10 vehicles for each side in this area. We’re unable to provide more space than that. If drivers think that 150 vehicles are going to park here, they’re wrong,” said head of the Department of Transportation at Yerevan City Hall Henrikh Navasardyan, speaking to drivers earlier today.
Taxi drivers, on the other hand, insisted that at most, 5 cars can park in the area set aside for them.
“They wanted yellow plates [i.e. special license plates registered for taxis], we did it. They wanted good cars, so the ride is pleasant for the customer, we did it. We pay the taxes, we pay social insurance, now what do they want? You don’t allow us to earn our daily bread, that’s why there’s emigration,” said one driver.
– No one’s touching your daily bread money.
– We’re not bothering anyone.
– You want to go park in the place [reserved] for public transport? That won’t happen.
– I’m happy to earn my daily bread through lawful means, but we’re asking city hall to move the parking sign a little over this way and re-calculate this area so that we have room to park, that’s our request for city hall, so we don’t become criminals or I-don’t-know-what.
“Who’s seen [only] 10 spaces be reserved for taxis in such a busy area? There’s no such thing in the world, 50–60 taxis can park in busy areas. If so many taxis are allowed, why does the transport ministry sell that many licenses? [The ministry] takes its 25,000 thousands and says, go, do what you want,” added another driver.
“Get out of here, this is a public transport stop, hurry up get out of here, quickly,” the back-and-forth between Navasardyan and the taxi drivers was interrupted by RA Road Police First Officer Battalion Deputy Commander, Police Lieutenant Colonel Haykaz Matevosyan.
– Well, where should we go, all the places are bought, when we go, they say it’s for the cars of our taxi service, it’s all bought.
– Now we argue, which one of us is going to park in those spaces for five cars. People, let’s get into a fight and see who’s going to park there.
– There’s no need for conflict, whoever comes first will park there [first-come, first-served].
– You forcefully say, go drive past the customs office [meaning, drive far away], what should we do in this stupid country, it’s become a crazy country, [where] man can’t live. It’s all privatized, the entire city is privatized. We don’t have another means of living, now they want to cut this off too, to sit so hungry, they say, go die; just as they eliminated street trade, they want to eliminate this too, why are they saying get out of here, what do they want, we don’t understand. They vent their frustrations out on taxi drivers, well what should we live on?
“What all this means is that we are deprived of our freedom of speech in this country, but if I’m unable to take bread to my child, I will do everything possible, regardless of what city hall or the country’s president says. Or they want us to go commit a crime, fill up their prisons. Let them think a little about the people… what will be the end of this? Everything has to change so these things don’t happen, how long will it continue like this?”
Note, according to Matevosyan, in the coming days, new measurements of the area will be taken and the parking sign will be moved forward.
