Grigoryan: Shadow turnover of Public Transport in Yerevan is approximately 5 million drams daily

YEREVAN, December 3. /ARKA/. Yerevan Vice Mayor Suren Grigoryan stated that the bus drivers' protests are, among other reasons, linked to the city administration's efforts to combat shadow earnings.

"There are drivers who are part of this shadow sector, and they openly acknowledge the reasons for their dissatisfaction. No one promised that these changes would be easy. We're talking about a loss of approximately 5 million drams per day," he said at the press conference.

At the same time, Grigoryan stated that he could not specify how much money “ended up in the pockets” of drivers and how much in the hands of private entrepreneurs”, but “it is almost impossible that all this turnover ended up in the drivers' pockets”.

As for the effectiveness of the ongoing efforts, he noted that before November 1, the mayor’s office received an average of 30-31 million drams in revenue on working days, whereas now this figure has risen to 35 million drams.

Due to the lack of buses in the morning, tens of thousands of Yerevan residents were unable to get to work, school, or attend to other matters. Bus drivers say they are dissatisfied with their working conditions and wages. The mayor's office accused them of being upset about the reduction of 'shadow' turnover (related to collecting fare) and attempting to blackmail the authorities.

The city administration reported that 18 drivers among the protesters have already been dismissed.