Epress.am News from Armenia
A civic initiative called “We’re against the metro fare increase” will be gathering in English Park (next to the Sundukyan State Academic Theatre of Yerevan) on Jul. 18 at 11 am.
Campaign organizers are urging the public to join them and write different inscriptions having to do with the subway on their shirts; for example, “We’re against the metro fare increase,” “Give us back our change,” and “Old metro, old fare.”
“If there are designers, artists, help us create stencil templates,” say organizers.
According to them, demonstrators will wear the shirts on Jul. 22 during a march to city hall, stopping at the Armenian government building and metro stations along the way, where they will hand over their second letter.
Recall, the one-way fare for riding the metro in the Armenian capital doubled on Jul. 1: the previous fare of 50 drams is now 100 drams (about $0.27 USD), in line with other modes of public transport such as buses, trolley buses and minibuses (commonly known as “marshrutkas”).
On the same day, about two dozen residents protested the fare hike outside city hall, handing over a letter to Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetyan, asking him to review his decision.
As previously reported, Yerevan mayor Karen Kareptyan responded to the public’s concerns by publishing a note on his Facebook page: “I understand your concerns on raising the metro fare. By not taking this step, we would have endangered all the necessary conditions for ensuring the operation of the subway.
“Let me also note that the 100 drams fare [for public transportation] remains the lowest fare among CIS cities. I hope you will approach this issue with understanding,” he wrote.
According to figures cited by the mayor, 20 million passengers use the Yerevan metro annually, which is 5–6% of public transport passengers in the Armenian capital. The allocation to the Yerevan metro from the state budget last year comprised 1 billion 845 million drams.