The session of the Yerevan Council of Elders was interrupted due to a scuffle between members of the Civil Contract and Mother Armenia factions.

ArmInfo. The "bone of contention" was the 300 dram tariff package for public  transport. Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan tried to assure that this  package was intended for tourists, but such manipulation did not work  for the opposition. Unable to control their emotions, the members of  the Council of Elders from the Mother Armenia faction began to object  to the mayor from their seats, raising their voices, after which the  representatives of the ruling party entered into a verbal altercation  with them. Passions ran high, and the participants of the session  left their seats. In order to avoid a fight, the rest of the Council  of Elders intervened in the dispute.

After the mayor's futile attempts to resolve the situation, he was  forced to invite representatives of law enforcement agencies to the  session hall. Then a 15-minute break was announced. Samvel Hakobyan,  a representative of the Mother Armenia faction, was not allowed to  attend the meeting after a remark that clearly angered Tigran  Avinyan.

According to the project presented by the city hall, a new single  tariff for travel on public transport was to be applied in the  capital of Armenia from February 1, 2025. On average, transport for  citizens would have become 3-6 times more expensive, depending on the  transport that would have been used. According to the Yerevan City  Hall, on condition of one-time use in each vehicle, the cost of three  trips would have been 280-300 drams, which caused a great public  outcry and discontent in society. Let us also recall that on January  27, at a working meeting in the capital's municipality, Tigran  Avinyan branded the opposition with shame, assuring that the new  transport reform would help solve many problems of public transport.  In particular, he pointed out that the use of the new ticket system  would help solve the issue of purchasing 250 electric buses.

Such a sharp turn of events caused a mixed reaction in Armenian  society. The expert community is sure that the mayor received another  SMS message from higher authorities with a proposal to slightly  increase the tariff, which is important in the year of the actual  start of the election campaign in the country.

Consequently, the Yerevan City Hall decided that a new tariff will be  introduced from February 1, according to which the cost of one ride  will be 150 drams. In particular, the mayor of the city noted that  this tariff will be in effect throughout 2025 and assured that this  decision will help solve other problems, such as long waits at bus  stops, the need for constant renewal of the bus fleet and the issue  of overloading public transport. At the same time, he added that  after 2025, the cost of travel may increase by 10 drams and amount to  160 drams with a long-term increase in cost.

At the same time, as Avinyan assured, in connection with their desire  for people to try out the new ticket system, the validity period of  ticket packages purchased in January and February will be extended  for another month.