ArmeniaNow  --  New buses will soon appear in the streets of Yerevan which inspires some hope among Yerevan residents, who expect to ride in more or less human conditions. Some people, however, skeptically wave their hands saying that the urban authorities will not be able to remove influential owners of minibuses (marshrutkas) routes from the traffic network.

Yerevan municipality representatives have recently stated that the first group of buses provided by the Government of China within the framework of a Chinese grant has already been imported to Yerevan. On Wednesday Arthur Gevorgyan, head of the Yerevan Municipality’s Public Relations Department, told ArmeniaNow that the second group of buses had also reached Armenia. With the addition, the transportation means of Yerevan will have 249 buses new buses – some of which will replace old ones.

Yerevan municipality has been reticent about the new buses. Responding to ArmeniaNow’s question a municipality official without mentioning a concrete day, only said that after documentation formations the buses will run in Yerevan in the future, parallel to the introduction of a new traffic network. Gevorgyan stated that the buses are of a medium-size, and they will hold about 40-50 passengers.

Student Karine Avetisyan, 20, who lives in Arabkir administrative district of Yerevan, is very happy about the import of new buses.

“I hope that at least a few [new] buses will appear in our [Komitas] street. When early in the morning, at peak hours I ride minibuses, I have to stand in marshrutkas almost half the way to my university, and which is worse – standing stooped. And as for buses, at least one does not become a ‘chess horse’ while standing in a bus,” Avetisyan says.

Her father Gevorg Avetisyan is more skeptical about the settlement of the transportation issue; he says that he does not believe that he will be able to see Yerevan without those “ugly marshrutkas” in the future.

“Each minibus route owner is an official, a lawmaker. I cannot imagine how they are going to quit their income,” he says.

Currently 68 private organizations realize transportation in intra-city bus and minibus routes of Yerevan on a contractual basis. There are 29 buses, 6 trolleybus and 112 minibus routes in Yerevan. According to Yerevan Municipality data, on working days of the week an average of 240-250 buses, 50 trolley-buses and about 1,900 minibuses are on routes. The municipality hopes that by exploiting up to 800 buses it will be possible to reduce the number of minibuses at least by 50 percent. However, it is not known yet where from and by which funds the remaining 550 buses will be imported.

Consumers' Association NGO head Armen Poghosyan, who has repeatedly voiced Yerevan transportation problems, is not happy about the import of the new buses at all. He told ArmeniaNow that the imported new buses of a medium-size will become a “new nightmare” for Yerevan, because they are not suited to intra-city traffic.

“We are not medium-size, we are complete people. If people stand in both sides of a [new] bus carriage, then it is impossible to move in the bus. These buses are not designed for an urban regime; they are designed to work on inter-community roads. Besides, a Chinese product is the synonym to a product of poor quality, everybody knows this,” says Poghosyan, who believes that Yerevan needs larger buses.

Eduard Hovhannisyan, head of the Achilles Union for the Defense of Drivers' Rights NGO does not share Poghosyan’s viewpoint. He says that medium-size buses are more convenient for the traffic in Yerevan, because the streets here are not wide, and the first zone of the traffic is almost always busy – cars park there.

“The Bogdan-size buses [Bogdans are buses which are imported from the Ukraine and currently run in Yerevan] are more expedient, because first they are faster, and secondly, they do maneuvering in Yerevan streets much better. I believe that big buses are not convenient for Yerevan,” Hovhannisyan says.