TEHRAN – A total of 10,000 new taxis will be added to the country’s public transport fleet by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2020), Mohsen Pourseyyed Aqaei, deputy mayor of Tehran for traffic and transport affairs, has announced.

A scheme on the renovation of clunker taxis started in the Iranian calendar year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017), through which 90,000 new cabs would have replaced the old ones.

“This year, however, regarding economic conditions and sanctions, car prices have increased. This issue has led to a halt to the renovation scheme,” he lamented.

He went on to highlight that negotiation with Iran Khodro car manufacturing company led to a contract to receive some 10,000 cabs by the end of this year, ISNA reported on Tuesday.

Referring to the taxi fleet as a public transport system providing people with cheap and high-quality service, he noted: “If we want people to use less personal cars, we need to provide them with an efficient, cheap and high-quality fleet.”

He further stated that last year, only 600 taxis have replaced the clunker ones operating in the capital’s public transport fleet.

Emphasizing that the minibus is an important and efficient sort of transportation in Tehran, which has come to a halt due to some problems, he said that in the new era of urban management we try to return the minibusses to the city.

Pointing to the role of vans in passenger transportation in the metropolis of Tehran, he highlighted that today, cars do not meet the capital's passenger population and vans can come efficient.

Using vans in the capital’s fleet should also become a priority, he said, concluding, “We hope that with the help of car manufacturing companies, we will solve the problem of public transportation in the city.”

Morteza Zameni, director-general of urban taxi drivers’ union said in August that there are currently 150,000 clunker taxis in the country, which will reach up to 192,000 by the end of this year.

The number of old taxis is expected to reach 240,000 by the next 2 years, which constitutes 75 percent of the country’s total taxi fleet, he lamented.

Clunker cars, produce great deal of emission and cause air pollution especially in metropolises like Tehran. According to the Air Quality Control Company, 27 days of unhealthy for sensitive groups due to ozone pollution and particulate matter haunted Tehran, in addition, air quality reached a level which was unhealthy for all the residents for 1 day.

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