System of unified public transport operators to be introduced in Armenia's regions

YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. A system of unified public transport operators will be introduced in Armenia's regions, Khachik Soghomonyan, a senior official at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, told a news conference today.

"A single operator system means that all routes in the region (province) will be operated by one company," he explained.

Soghomonyan specified that one company will operate intercommunity routes, while transportation systems within the communities will be regulated by local authorities. So far, tenders have been held for three regions: Kotayk, Ararat and Armavir.

He noted that the winner of the tender in Kotayk province has already been determined and most of the vehicles have been brought. According to him, 150 vehicles will be servicing the region, 110 of which are already in operation, and 40 vehicles will be delivered soon.

"During the tender process, we realized that due to the increase in passenger traffic, there will be a need to bring in an additional number of vehicles," he stressed.

He said that in the Armavir region the winner was not announced, because there were violations and new tenders will soon be announced in Aragatsotn, Shirak and Tavush regions.

"If the region will be served by one operator, in case there is a route that is not profitable, the operator can compensate losses at the expense of other profitable routes," he explained.

Soghomonyan stressed that the winning company in Kotayk has invested $5 million to buy vehicles only.

"The Ministry is also trying to assist in every possible way, to resolve all obstacles," he said. He drew attention to the fact that one of the principles of the new system is to serve all localities in the regions without exception. -0-