TEHRAN — Tehran Municipality has announced plans to renovate 17,000 taxis for the next Iranian calendar year starting on March 21, Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.

As per the plan, taxis aging over 10 years should be scrapped aiming to stimulate the automobile industry and remove inefficient, high emissions vehicles from the road.

Shahriar Afandizadeh head of Tehran’s Taxi Driving Organization affiliated with the municipality has said some 15,000 old taxis are projected to be replaced with new ones by the end of the current [Iranian] year, however, so far only 3,599 taxis have been scrapped.

The budget needed for granting 200-million-rial (nearly $5,000) loans, which must be allocated by the Interior Ministry and the banking system, is yet to be provided, Afandizadeh regretted. 

The municipality has seriously considered renovating public transportation for the next year by adding new buses, replacing some 17,000 taxis, pushing for car loans allocation, and fostering the Interior ministry’s cooperation.

Some 6,000 buses will be renovated by the end of the current [Iranian calendar] year, he highlighted.

Air pollution is a challenge metropolitans of Iran, most significantly Tehran, are struggling with. The choking smoke is attributed to cars, outdated buses, taxis, and trucks, plying the city on a daily basis. 

While traffic schemes are designed to restrict personal cars from accessing city centers, which are the most congested and polluted areas, clunker taxis and buses are required to be replaced with modern, and low-emission models to save the Tehraners from breathing the suffocating smoke every day.   

MQ/MG