{"id":108295,"date":"2011-06-23T12:26:45","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T07:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epress.am\/?p=108295"},"modified":"2011-06-23T12:26:45","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T07:26:45","slug":"even-100-drams-is-low-for-metro-fare-yerevan-mayor-responds-to-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2011\/06\/23\/even-100-drams-is-low-for-metro-fare-yerevan-mayor-responds-to-complaints.html","title":{"rendered":"Even 100 Drams is Low for Metro Fare: Yerevan Mayor Responds to Complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yerevan mayor Karen Karapetyan published a note<\/span><\/strong><\/a> on his Facebook page<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in response to complaints by Yerevan residents on the city’s decision to double subway fares.<\/p>\n

“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,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Karapetyan noted that the cost of transporting a single passenger on the metro is 160 drams, which continues to rapidly increase. Recall, the current one-way fare of 50 drams will be increasing to 100 drams starting Jul. 1.<\/p>\n

“We won’t be cutting the subsidy to the metro, but we are also unable to increase it, and the growth of the necessary cost of maintaining and developing the metro is quite high. 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.<\/p>\n

Recall, in February of this year, deputy finance minister Vardan Aramyan, during the question and answer period in parliament, had said that subways are considered around the world to operate at a loss but a necessary means of transport from a social perspective, which is why 65% is funded from the state budget, while only 35% of revenues come from fares.<\/p>\n

Earlier, a Facebook group had been created<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, with the then-450 members protesting the looming fare hike.<\/p>\n

One user, Artur Baghdasaryan, wrote, \u201cA little while later, they\u2019ll tear apart the metro and sell the railway tracks. I won\u2019t be surprised at all if that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Facebook user wrote, \u201cAll that\u2019s left is to make the city transport [fares] 200 drams, to be done with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys are complete IDIOTS\u2026 let them increase the prices of everything; with which part are they thinking? Let us live in peace\u2026 What will be the end of this? \u2026 I can\u2019t find the words, I don\u2019t know\u2026 Rather, I do find [the words], but I can\u2019t freely express myself, because I would write the worst words\u2026 do you understand?\u201d wrote another user by the name of Arturo Sayan.<\/p>\n

Facebook user Haykanush Arshakyan proposed a way to protest the city\u2019s decision: don\u2019t take the metro for one week.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome, let\u2019s protest by not taking the metro for a week, let\u2019s see what will happen. Perhaps through this way they\u2019ll realize that the fare increase is uncalled-for,” she wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I understand your concerns on raising the metro fare. By not taking this step, we would have endangered all the necessary conditions for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12107,13935,27483,25309],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}