BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 1
By Jeyhun Alakbarov – Trend:
Azerbaijan undertook a number of measures for restricting the movement of the citizens in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and decisions of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers, in order to minimize possible contact between people and prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, a source in the Public Relations Department at the State Road Transport Service under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies told Trend.
In the pre-pandemic period, 2.5 million passengers were transported daily, but beginning from March 3 of this year when the above said restrictions were introduced in the country, the intra- and inter-city transportation has shown a 21-percent drop, and the daily passenger traffic declined up to 1.6 million.
In connection with the decision of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers dated March 23, which provided for the complete cessation of passenger traffic between districts and cities of the country, except Baku, Sumgayit and Absheron district, as well as the movement of people who previously had a permit for this until April 20, the passenger traffic indicators went down to 80 percent.
In the pre-pandemic period, passenger transportation in Baku, Sumgayit and Absheron district was carried out by 12 legal persons and 13 individuals. Thus, 68 buses ran in the direction of Baku-Sumgayit on eight route lines, in the direction of Baku-Absheron district - 66 buses on 13 route lines, and in the direction of Sumgayit - Absheron district - 61 buses on nine route lines, that is, a total of 195 buses operated on 30 route lines.
In connection with the drop in the passenger movement between Baku, Sumgayit and Absheron district due to the imposed restrictions, the number of buses was brought in line with the reduced passenger flow.
In April, 497,885 passengers were transported between Baku, Sumgayit and Absheron district, in May - 674,310, in June - 590,020 and in July 417,070, in total – over 2.1 million passengers.
The state service also organized the issuance of the "Badge of Distinction" in the regional and city departments of "Azerpocht" LLC for admission to automobile passenger and cargo transportation. At the same time, the agency entered information about 6,224 vehicles providing taxi services and 6,332 vehicles carrying out cargo transportation into the icaze.e-gov.az portal system.
Starting from March 4, the hotline of the State Road Transport Service on (012) 566 52 58 number has been working around the clock, seven days a week. In general, since March 4, the State Service has received 4168 applications. Currently, 25-30 calls are received daily.
Along with this, the source noted that the resumption of passenger traffic and the activities of bus stations will be provided by the State Road Transport Service in stages on the basis of decisions of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers.