«I have an interesting piece of news to share, though it's not good news» - Hayk Marutyan

It was not a strike, but rather a "family" issue within our city hall that has been resolved. This was the view expressed by Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan during a conversation with journalists, addressing the protest action of employees and drivers of the "Yerevan Bus" LLC, noting that the municipality is a large family with various discussions.

Marutyan disagreed that the protest was against his decision.

Touching upon the issue of urban transport, the mayor stated: "The final results of the transport network program have been sent to the municipality by the British company, and we are currently reviewing those results. The preliminary estimate has been valued at 200-250 million dollars, which is a significant amount and will require state support."

Emphasizing that the capital's transport system is in a critically poor condition with a large number of worn-out vehicles, Hayk Marutyan informed that 450 microbuses are to be removed from the network next year due to the maximum operating period of 15 years for these vehicles. This is particularly concerning given that there are a total of 900 microbuses operating throughout the route network. "Exactly half will not be able to continue operations," pointed out Hayk Marutyan, adding, "We are urgently trying to solve the issue at this moment, to understand what we will do if we say that the new network may be ready in two years. The problem is that we need to figure out what we will do in these two years."