The new prices, effective from February 1, replaced the uniform bus and minibus fees of 100 drams (25 U.S. cents) per ride and trolleybus fares set at 50 drams with a complex tariff system involving electronic payments for season tickets. A ticket valid for 180 minutes now costs around 300 drams.
The two opposition groups represented in Yerevan’s municipal council kept calling on citizens to continue paying 100 drams even after Avinian made a major concession on January 28, introducing a new, one-ride ticket worth 150 drams. Their leaders, notably former Mayor Hayk Marutian, have been personally touring bus stops, boarding buses and posting video appeals on social media for that purpose.
Avinian, his aides as well as pro-government members of the city council insisted until now that the opposition campaign has failed and that the vast majority of citizens support the “reform” of Yerevan’s troubled transport network.
The mayor complained on Monday, however, about the financial impact of the boycott. He said commuters refusing to pay new fares prevent the municipal authorities from implementing their plan to purchase more buses and trolleybuses badly needed by the network.
“All those people who get on a bus and don’t pay support an agenda designed to scuttle the purchase, for example, of 45 trolleybuses this year,” he told a weekly meeting of municipal officials.
Avinian claimed at the same time that the number of such people is “not big.” But he declined to disclose it. In contrast with its previous practices, the mayor’s office has likewise refrained so far from publicizing the transport network’s revenue since February 1.
Avinian also warned that “appropriate measures” will be taken against Yerevan residents boycotting the higher fares. He did not elaborate. The existing laws and regulations do not allow the authorities to fine such people, a fact constantly stressed by the opposition.
The municipality already moved earlier this month to take punitive measures against the boycott. News reports said that bus drivers were ordered by their superiors to evict commuters sticking to the previous price or to stop working in such cases. Some of them have executed such orders, causing bitter arguments with defiant passengers.
Avinian’s aides insisted last week that the drivers have no such authority. The mayor claimed the opposite, however.
Avinian and his associates representing the ruling Civil Contract party have said all along that the higher fares are needed for cutting the network’s losses and buying new buses for it. Their political opponents maintain that the mayor’s office has enough funds to subsidize the network without resorting to the unpopular measure.