The initiative members of   “Out of Our Pockets”   requires the Ministry of Transport and Communications to review the licensing procedure and to lower 12 thousand Drams per month payments to 5 thousand, thus creating equal conditions both for the drivers in the capital and in rural areas. This was announced during a press conference on March 4 by the founding members of the  “Out of Our Pockets”   initiative. 

 

According to Arsen Petrosyan the so-called reforms carried out by the Ministry of Justice, the Transport and Communications Ministry and the Government in the taxi service sphere are just a trap to prowl into pockets and steal money. He believes that repeatedly raised issues of licensing procedures, the red lines, taxi parking, meter seals, of letters sent by the CEJA are still unsolved.Referring to the recent decision of the Government concerning the insertion of self-regulation process in Auto insurance system in case of accidents of up to 50 thousand AMD, the speaker mentioned that this decision will not promote the elimination of current problems, moreover, the threshold is very low, and drivers will not be able to determine the extent of damage if it is 50 thousand or more in case of accident. 

"How can drivers define the extent of vehicles damage, when even Auto insurance agents cannot" said A.Petrosyan adding that the insurance agents pay a little in case of accidents, not completely eliminating expenses caused by the accident.

As for him, the next problem relates to administrative offenses:” As a result of reforms the two days delay in payment of Auto insurance caused sending a letter to a driver with 100 thousand AMD fine. How can a man be fined  100 thousand AMD for delaying the payment for two days, they don’t  think about drivers, who must first of all find that money and then pay”. A. Petrosyan claims that CEJA continues to work with the former method, that is letters are sent in the same frequency and quantity, regardless of whether the driver has paid the fine or not. 

Initiative member also noted that they propose to revise the fees for meter calibration and to reduce the amount of 2,500 AMD to 400.

According to another member of   “Out of Our Pockets”   Arthur Kroyan all promises made by Government are not fulfilled. In his opinion the discrimination between taxi drivers for parking is also not clear. 

"If the law forbids a part of taxi drivers to park on the parking lot, then why others still do that? Why the law is not equal for everyone? When I ask a policeman why he allows some people to park but others are not allowed, I hear an illogical response. Such as “They are being shot” . Some policemen even say, ” It is ordered”. That is, the biased attitude”, - said Kroyan.

He urged the Ministry of Transport and Communications to stop the inspections down the streets and fining people for not having a license until giving an appropriate solutions to their questions.