TEHRAN – Some 100 buses operating in the capital’s public transport fleet have been renovated since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), Tehran bus operating company’s director general has said.

“We accept that the current condition of some buses is not desirable, but we are working to provide the best service using the whole capacities available,” Fars quoted Peyman Sanandaji as saying on Monday.
Since the beginning of this year, 100 buses offering services in transport fleet have undergone renovation and retrofitting measures in terms of cooling and heating systems, appearance and power system, he explained.
So, buses are supposed to turn on cooling or heating system, and in case of refusal the passengers can register their complaint and it will soon be pursued, he highlighted.
He further expressed hope that the government will soon allocate the necessary budget to renovate all the buses in the public transportation system.
Given that the public transport system is old and aging, a plan was proposed in the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018) by President Hassan Rouhani to renovate the public transport fleet, according to which 19,000 new buses, 48,000 new minibuses and 6,000 trucks should replace clunker ones.
Mehdi Jamalinejad, deputy interior minister for urban and rural development, has said that some 22,000 busses are operating in the country’s public transport fleet, 16,000 of which are clunkers, accounting for 70 percent of the volume of bus transport system.
Globally transportation accounts for about 21 percent of greenhouse emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that transport sector emissions of carbon dioxide will increase by 92 percent between 1990 and 2020. Most importantly the age of the transport fleet, the technology used within it and the extent to which such vehicles are maintained as well as the availability of appropriate fuel can decide the amount of emission attributed to the transport sector.
Some health or environmental officials believe that over 70 percent of pollutants in Tehran is produced by clunker buses.
FB/MG