Yerevan ex-mayor lashes out at incumbent mayor over transport fares  rise 

ArmInfo. Yerevan, December 19. ArmInfo, Aline Grigoryan. You deceived your voters: if you, as an honest politician, had announced before the elections that you would raise prices for transport, real estate taxes and construction permits immediately after the election, you would not have received even the measly 75 thousand votes that you did. Former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan stated this on December 18  during a debate on Factor with Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan. 

The former Yerevan mayor drew attention to the fact that from the first days of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team coming to power, residents of the country faced a sharp increase in prices for a number of services, despite assurances to the contrary. Marutyan cited the increase in property taxes as an example of one such service. "Thanks to the increase in property tax in 2026, they will already be able to collect 20 billion drams more. From these additional funds, they can easily subsidize travel on public transport, thereby not worsening the situation of socially vulnerable citizens. After all, it is no secret that public transport is mostly used by citizens with low incomes," Marutyan explained.

The former mayor recalled that back in 2015, the city authorities spent $1 million and commissioned an analysis from a reputable British company to modernize the Yerevan transport network. According to him, the company presented its final conclusion in 2019, where it was clearly stated that transport should be subsidized. "The final conclusion also notes that 94% of those using transport in Yerevan are those who go to work in the morning and return in the evening. That is, these are the people who are trying to somehow provide for their existence without becoming a burden for the state. And today, the increase in transport will hit precisely this vulnerable layer,"  Marutyan noted. 

To which Avinyan sarcastically noted that this analysis was done during the times of gazelles, when transport routes stretched from Malatya to the 9th massif. According to him, the situation is different now, and people use comfortable buses, and a different transport network has been formed. True, the mayor was unable to explain how this changes the situation in terms of the picture of those who use transport, because both in the times of Gazelles and in the times of buses, people do not get on public transport for idle pleasure.

Then, in response to Marutyan's question about how much money the Yerevan Municipality will receive from increasing transport prices, Avinyan replied that it is about 5 billion drams. Based on this figure, Marutyan stated that given the taxes that the Municipality receives, there is no need to increase transport prices.

"In 2021, when I was mayor, the collection of property taxes amounted to 6 billion 475 million drams, and movable property taxes - 12.8 billion drams. In 2024, the property tax already amounted to 13.44 billion drams, and movable property taxes - 13.2 billion drams. That is, the difference is 8.1 billion drams. Thus, this year they collected 8.1 billion drams more compared to 2021. In 2025, 14.92 billion drams will be collected, and in 2026 - 20 billion drams more. uch fees allow maintaining the cost of transport at 100 drams," the former mayor of Yerevan explained.

In turn, Avinyan assured that compared to 2019-2021, the mayor's office has significantly increased the volume of capital investments. According to him, the mayor's office is trying to gradually improve the situation in all institutions. "We strive to ensure that our children attend the best kindergartens and that our courtyards are better maintained. We started by dismantling illegal kiosks in parks. We have kindergartens where we have raised salaries. We have increased the minimum wage for tens of thousands of people. Our goal is to provide the city with quality transport, which at some point will not be switched to Gazelle. Every year, transport costs will increase, but if we do not make changes, we will face serious problems," Avinyan said, misleading citizens with claims that allegedly for citizens, on average, one-way travel will increase by 44 drams, and not three times.

After the debate, Marutyan also presented the results of the  citizens' vote on his Facebook page regarding whose arguments regarding the increase or non-increase in public transport prices were more convincing. According to the publication, 73% of citizens considered Marutyan's arguments about the lack of need to increase transport prices convincing. And only 27% of citizens considered Avinyan's arguments about the need to increase transport prices convincing. Let us recall that new tariffs for public transport will be applied in the capital of Armenia from January 1, 2025. Provided that a single use in each vehicle, the cost of three trips will be 280-300 drams. From 880 to 900 drams for 1 day - 8 trips, 4800-5000 drams for 7 days - 30 trips. For an unlimited number of trips, the tariff will be 8800-9000 drams for 30 days, 23,600-24,000 drams for 90 days, 88,000-90,000 drams for 365 days, a multiple-use ticket -  2100-2200 drams for 10 trips per month. Tariffs will apply to all  types of public transport.

The mayor called on Yerevan residents to pay for public transport in two ways starting November 1:  with 100-dram coins, which must be inserted into the appropriate device, or by using the preliminary unified ticket system, that is, by purchasing an electronic ticket using terminals with the appropriate QR code. In this way, Avinyan emphasized, the transport company's income will be consistently increased, the shadow turnover of financial resources will be avoided, and the full transition to a unified ticket system will be simplified.

Former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan, in turn, held the #Maximum100Dram initiative to collect signatures against the increase in transport tariffs. In an interview with an ArmInfo correspondent, he said that they intend to collect as many signatures as possible, since this problem affects more than 650 thousand citizens of Armenia, adding that they plan to collect at least that many votes. "We will do everything possible to prevent the fare increase. Just as 100 drams did not become 150 drams under Taron Margaryan, 100 drams will not become 300 drams under Tigran Avinyan," Marutyan summed up.