BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 7. The Azerbaijan
Land Transport Agency aims to improve transportation security and
digitalize the industry, Chairman of the Agency’s Board Anar Rzayev
said in an interview with Trend.
According to him, the Agency will regulate the full range of
road transport segments – the traffic and the land transport
infrastructure.
“We’re talking about passenger and freight land transport in
international, intracity, and intercity traffic, as well as taxi
services. Reforms should relate to the entire road transport
sector, primarily to passenger traffic. The bus terminal operations
during the COVID-19 pandemic were disrupted due to the
unprecedented rise in illegal transportation. International
passenger road transport is not yet carried out due to the ongoing
pandemic. The agency is aimed at further improving transportation
security, as well as implementing the digital transformation of the
industry,” Rzayev noted.
Speaking of the bus tickets to Azerbaijan’s liberated
territories, he said that tickets can be purchased on the yolumuzqarabaga.az.
The tickets are not available at the box office.
“The start of selling tickets are declared beforehand in the
media. The cultural capital of Azerbaijan – Shusha is in the
greatest demand, other districts arouse a lot of interest as well.
We receive requests about new trip start dates to the liberated
lands, particularly to Kalbajar and Lachin. There is a very high
demand for bus services to Azerbaijan’s Karabakh,” the chairman
stressed.
Furthermore, Rzayev revealed that around 500 trips have been
carried out and up to 21,000 passengers have been transported to
the liberated territories.
“Nine trips a week are being carried out to Shusha. We would
like to increase the trip numbers and have all the technical
capabilities for this. However, there is not just only one
requirement, as security issues and completed infrastructure are
also needed in this regard. The relevant work is currently
underway, and the Agency is monitoring the situation,” he said.
Another direction of the agency’s activity, according to the
chairman, is the implementation of technological and informational
transformation in passenger traffic.
“The new project for online ticket sales in all directions has
already been developed. The biletim.az is in test mode now. This program has
already been installed at numerous bus terminals, and preparatory
work and staff training have been carried out. The program is
expected to be launched in the near future. Moreover, the Agency
eyes establishing the AYNA information system, which will also
include online ticket sales. The other day, the country launched a
monitoring center offering remote control over deviations from
routes, and compliance with the correct operation of trips. Thus,
digital sector transformation projects are being prepared in all
areas. This applies to permit issuance, the training of drivers and
operators, and control functions,” he said.
Rzayev said the Land Transport Agency is also responsible for
regulating and ensuring the need for road transport and other road
transport services, monitoring compliance with the rules and
requirements of international and domestic passenger and freight
transport, except for regulating and controlling passenger
transport in the administrative territory of Baku city.
“Routes of approach to the capital are within our scope of
regulation. We’re planning to make changes to the Sumgayit-Baku
route. In our opinion, transport from Sumgayit shouldn’t end at the
“20 January” metro station, and the final destination should be the
“Bus Terminal” metro station in front of the Baku International Bus
Terminal Complex. There is also a large bus hub in the station’s
area, where citizens can get on the intercity buses. Another
difficult area for passenger traffic is the “Lokbatan circle”. The
agency is working to eliminate congestion and began to conduct
raids in this are from October 31, 2022. We have issued more than
850 protocols on administrative offenses, and explanatory work has
been carried out with a large number of drivers,” the chairman
added.
He also outlined the activities implemented in the field of the
bus base.
“According to the results, the total number of buses in use,
performing regular and irregular transport, excluding Baku city, is
over 5,600. Their average age is 20 years. Of course, the bus fleet
needs to be updated, since its further aging may result in stopping
traffic in certain directions. It’s necessary to create conditions
for investments in this industry. We’ve already started to hold
transparent tenders for all routes. Tenders are mainly opened for
intercity routes and are scheduled to be announced for intracity
ones in the future. We have developed a new model of intracity
transportation, which affects both the financial part of the issue
and the optimization of routes. Intracity transport is not only a
transport issue, but also an issue of urbanism, spatial economics,
and land use. Such a holistic approach will create new conditions
in this area,” he said.
Summing up, Rzayev underscored the price rigging issues and ways
to deal with them.
“The artificially inflated fare is a violation of the
passenger’s rights. In this case, we issue a protocol on an
administrative offense of this carrier. Taking this opportunity, I
would like to address public transport users. If they are faced
with similar cases, please contact the agency’s hotline short
number 1181 and report such cases,” he added.
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