Starting today, we need to 'tighten' the driver; we must not allow parking on the sidewalk with four wheels, says Mayor

Yerevan is currently more of a car city than a pedestrian one. This was stated by Levon Hovhannisyan, a member of the City Council from the ‘My Step’ faction, during today’s council meeting.

“I have the impression that we have surrendered our city to cars; they occupy all the sidewalks every day, and we, adjusting, manage to squeeze through with a baby stroller, passing between the cars from Cascade to Arshakunyats Avenue,” he said.

The mayor responded that the general solution to the problem is the expansion of the transportation network to encourage people to use public transport. He mentioned that drivers will also be encouraged to come to the center not by car, but by public transport.

“Starting today, we need to ‘tighten’ the driver; we must not allow parking on the sidewalk with four wheels, we must not allow double parking, or parking at Shahumyan Square; in other words, we must not allow violations. It pains me to see every day in the center that a mother with a stroller cannot cross the sidewalk because someone has decided that the two wheels of their car should stick two meters onto the sidewalk, and that car should be taken directly to the impound lot without discussion and punished severely,” said Mayor Marutyan. “I want to mention that the traffic police do not have much authority; they have very few tow trucks; they have acquired a few, but still cannot keep up.”