‘It is corruption’: Manuk Sukiasyan on unified ticket system

They really “calculated” their steps not to increase transport prices, Manuk Sukiasyan, head of the Mother Armenia Alliance of the Yerevan City Council, told Alpha News.

“As a result of poor management, buses do not arrive on time. In the context of a tense political atmosphere in the country, they really ‘calculated’ their steps not to increase transport prices. They try to delay possible social discontent and postpone the date.

It is also problematic that, for example, a few days ago it turned out that Yerevan City Hall purchased these GPS systems, which should be installed on buses, at one and a half times the market value. It is corruption, isn’t it? This is exactly how it happens. The city budget is being wasted,” Sukiasyan said.

According to him, the authorities extended the deadline for raising prices for public transport but did not abandon this plan.

“It is expected that prices will rise by winter, by the New Year. On New Year’s Eve, people do not take to the streets with social protests due to weather conditions and preparations for the holiday. Obviously, there is a tendency to postpone price increases to a more distant date, but not to abandon it.
At the same time, the project of the Mother Armenia Alliance on transport tariffs has not been included on the agenda at this session. The Mother Armenia Alliance specifically pointed to sources through which it is possible to fill the budget and maintain current tariffs, and in the case of a unified ticket system, in some cases, the fare would not even cost a citizen so much,” Sukiasyan said.