Depletion of 85% of the public transport fleet, the cause of the outbreak of air pollution in the capital!
According to the social reporter of Moj news agency
The problem air pollution It is tied to Tehran, and in recent years, the capital always struggles with the problem of air inversion and pollution of particles less than 2.5 microns in the second half of the year, and dust and ozone pollution in the first half of the year.
While one of the main ways to reduce the capital’s pollutants is the development of public transportation, the wear and tear of Tehran’s public transportation fleet has become a bane for the residents of the capital. Dilapidated and smoky buses and taxis are one of the culprits of air pollution in the metropolises of the country, especially Tehran, which send a significant amount of So2 pollutants, particles less than 2.5 and less than 10 pm into the sky of Tehran metropolis.
Depletion of half of Tehran’s public transport fleet
According to the publication list of 1400, diesel buses contribute 32% and taxis and worn-out gasoline cars contribute 19% in pollution by mobile sources in Tehran. Also, more than half of the public transportation fleet in Tehran is worn out, and the fact that the buses are on at the terminals has also caused the pollution caused by these devices to intensify.
While according to the development document, Tehran needs at least 9,000 buses, now we have less than 2,500,000 buses in the capital.
Another problem that exists regarding the public transport fleet in Tehran is the possibility of accessing them; According to international standards, a person from his home or workplace should have access to one of the public transportation means by traveling a distance of 500 meters, but this is two to three times the international standard in Tehran.
This lack of development of public transportation has led to people’s reluctance to use these means; For example, in the fourth development plan, the share of metro in Tehran’s inner-city trips was supposed to reach 75%, but this figure is only 10%, and the share of buses does not exceed 23%.
Currently, the traffic situation in Tehran shows that the public transport conditions are not suitable compared to the population of Tehran and the growth of the public transport fleet lags behind the growth of the population. The main reason for this backwardness is due to the failed and indefensible actions of various institutions and organizations such as Tehran Municipality in different periods, including the period of the former administration of Tehran.
In this regard, Dariush Golalizadeh, head of the National Weather and Climate Change Center He told the reporter of Moj news agency: According to the study of the “Emission list of the metropolises of the country”, especially the city of Tehran, the share of mobile sources such as buses, minibuses, motorcycles, taxis, trucks and private cars in the pollution of metropolises is 60% in the production of particles less than 2.5 microns. Today, they are the main polluters of Tehran and other big cities.
He continued: From these sources, cars with diesel fuel account for 32% of 60%! The type of suspended particles that are released in the air of Tehran is soot and its origin is fossil fuels, especially diesel fuel from public transportation, including buses.
The head of the National Center for Air and Climate Change of the Environmental Protection Organization explained: the more navigation of these devices and the wear and tear of more than 85% of our public transport fleet has caused this amount of pollution and also caused us to see more traffic of private cars and Let’s be a single passenger because, unfortunately, public transportation is facing an inefficiency due to the lack of development and modernization in the past years and it does not have full coverage for different areas of Tehran, and also people do not feel comfortable in public transportation vehicles.
Gol Alizadeh also stated about the quality of fuel in metropolitan cities: fuel in Tehran and metropolitan cities is of good quality and even the sulfur content of fuels distributed in the entire Tehran province is between Euro 4 and Euro 5, but the performance of the fuel depends on the performance of the car itself and when that our diesel cars and our buses, which are more than 20 years old, cannot burn fuel well, as a result of which there is no benefit in increasing the quality of fuel; In addition, our buses do not have control equipment and soot absorbent filter!
He added: Driving control equipment in passenger and gasoline cars is also a catalyst, and if this catalyst is not replaced and removed from the circuit after 5 years, that car will become a source of pollution.
The head of the National Center for Air and Climate Change of the Environmental Protection Organization said about the development of standard public transportation: “Fortunately, the Organization of Municipalities and Villages and the Ministry of Interior have taken steps to buy electric buses, and very good programs have been defined for the big cities.”
Gol Alizadeh added: Another very good issue that is on the agenda is the plan to decommission old cars, which has not been done for many years and last year only 20,800 cars were scrapped, but with the approval of Article 10 of the Law on Organizing the Automobile Industry, which It has been prepared in conjunction with the executive regulations of Article 8 of the Clean Air Law and will probably be approved by the government in the coming weeks, scrapping worn-out taxis and motorcycles in metropolitan cities is a priority, and God willing, we will modernize the taxi fleet of metropolitan cities, and this will happen with minimal dependence on government resources. And it is done through the production of an abortion certificate.
He pointed out: For example, for a worn-out taxi over 12 years old, at least 210 million Tomans will be required for the production of a scrapping certificate as a contribution from the car owner, and a new car and taxi can be purchased with a minimal amount of equipment planned by the municipality and the Ministry of Interior. It should be given to them and the worn-out taxi should be retired.
In Tehran, the development of personal transportation has been prioritized over the public transportation fleet
A simple modeling of the big cities of the world that have succeeded in reducing air pollution shows that traffic should be mostly by public transportation, while in Tehran, private cars are used more and in previous years instead of developing public transportation. More attention has been paid to the development of personal transportation and this problem has increased traffic and fuel consumption.
It is necessary to shift traffic to public transportation instead of personal transportation, and in this case we will definitely succeed in reducing air pollution, but writing the law and not implementing it will not solve air pollution. If we start developing public transportation now, maybe it will take five to 10 years, but this work must be started.
If access to the public transport fleet in Tehran is provided in the best possible way, people will not have to use private cars for their commutes; Therefore, what we need is to take measures to reduce intra-city travel to Public transportation push
Development of transport and quote General; The key to reducing air pollution
By examining all the above-mentioned cases, we come to the conclusion that the best and fastest solution to air pollution and reduction the traffic In the big cities of our country, the development of public transportation is the key to reducing air pollution in big cities. The use of underground subway, the development of trams on the ground level and the use of monorail above the ground level, the development of electric buses, hybrid taxis, bicycle rental stations, etc. can have a tremendous impact on reducing air pollution in a short time.
The big cities of the world, including London, Paris, Beijing, Mexico City, etc., have reduced the distance of each person to reach a public transportation to only 500 meters and have been able to reduce air pollution to a great extent with this solution. This distance in our country is much more than the standard limit (500 meters), which should be reduced with the development of public transportation, and as a result, people should be encouraged to use these means.