Tehranians Fume Over Gridlock and Pollution

Newhouse News ^ | 9/12/2006 | Nawal Qarooni

[Incorrigible]

Tehran's modern subway system charges very low fares. (Photo by Jennifer Brown)

Tehranians Fume Over Gridlock and Pollution BY NAWAL QAROONI

TEHRAN, Iran -- Old Jennifer Lopez songs fill the vintage green Peugeot as Bobak Doustan shakes his head.

The bus in front of the 26-year-old car service driver has just pulled away and belched a dirty black glob of fumes on his car.

"The air in Tehran has gotten so disgusting," says Doustan, wearing permanent-looking stubble and aviator sunglasses. "If you look around, you'll see in each car there's just one person. You can't set times for anything in this city because you don't know how long it'll take you with this traffic."

That is one way Tehranis navigate their city of 12 million.

This is another: A sleek subway car purrs into one of 51 stations in the capital city.

The car appears much cleaner than anything running on the tracks in New York City. Many of the stations have plasma-screen TVs, showing everything from "Tom and Jerry" cartoons to soccer games. There also are women-only cars for those too religious to mix with the men. Rides cost the equivalent of 6 to 30 cents American, depending on the destination.

If Iran is a country of contrasts -- ancient versus modern, traditional versus progressive and rich versus poor -- Tehran's patchwork transit system offers striking examples of all those divides. Here, a short trip from Point A to Point B presents options that include bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, taxis, private cars, buses or the flashy new $2 billion subway system.

There is only one constant: mind-numbing traffic.

Cutting the gridlock and bringing the city into the 21st century is a mission close to the heart of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who first appeared on the international stage for his work fighting Tehran's traffic crisis.

Two months ago, the national government completed a $35 million, 6.3-mile tunnel in the center city that connects two main thoroughfares.

Next, Ahmadinejad proposed an odd-even program, in which the last number on license plates must correspond with a certain day of the week to legally drive. Taxis and car services, Doustan says, can pay the equivalent of about $350 a year for a special permit if they want to drive every day.

And most recently, Ahmadinejad announced there would be gasoline rations in place by October -- the Iranian month of Abon. Iranians, whose per capita income is about one-fourth that of Americans, pay the equivalent of about 37 cents for a gallon of gas.

Despite the driving restrictions and new subway system, navigating the capital's roads remains difficult.

"The buses are too hot. The motorcycles weave in and out of traffic too much and make me sick," says Kazem Asiae, a 34-year-old construction worker riding the subway, or metro, in baggy jeans and a blue T-shirt. "The metro is really the only way, even though it's so full during morning rush hour."

At the Imam Khomeini station, people wait impatiently on the underground platforms. The scene isn't that different from a weekday morning at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

Outside, however, there is a crush of cars and two-wheelers that is so unwieldy it is impossible to see lines on the road. Men directing traffic in the street wear hospital masks to protect them from exhaust fumes.

"The air is so polluted in Tehran that some doctors say if you're over 60 years old like me and have heart problems, you shouldn't visit," says Mohammad Fahim, in Tehran on business after moving to Shiraz. He says he relocated because the air was too dirty in the capital. "I get dizzy, my throat gets dry, my eyes burn, and I have to stay indoors if I want to breathe. And I'm not normally sick."

Near Tehran's biggest bazaar in the southern part of the city, hordes of motorcycles rev up and race down Poonzayeh Khordad Street.

Here, motorcycles and scooters act as taxis for the city's bravest travelers, who hop rides almost anywhere in the city.

"Young boys have little to do, so they rent a motorcycle and make it a quick job, taking passengers where they need to go," says Majid Karimi, a 26-year-old who works at the bazaar and hitches a ride on one every day. "They're fast because they weave in and out of car traffic, and you bargain with them for price."

They move packages. They act as messengers. They don't follow traffic signals, and sometimes they take three passengers at a time.

The various forms of motorbikes -- often older than the people driving them -- provide another benefit: They are easy on gas.

Like Iraq, its neighbor to the west that sits on some of the world's largest oil reserves, people in Iran often wait in long lines to fill their tanks because the country's refineries can't meet demand.

Back on the metro at the Mirdamad station, Mahnaz Nasseri waits to hop onto a female-only car.

Fully covered in black, she says the subway is convenient because it's air-conditioned and less expensive than taking taxis or using her car.

Amir Atlesi, a young man reading a newspaper while he waits, agrees with the economic argument. He says he recently sold his car because it didn't make sense to let it lose value sitting outside the metro station. Atlesi says he rides the subway because it's the fastest and cheapest way to get to his job as a builder and because it's the only semi-relaxing transportation in the city. The buses, he says, are too hot, and the motorcycles too dangerous and noisy.

"You can't call it traffic," he says. "It's back-to-back cars. You can't move an inch in this city, maybe just at night. The metro's the only thing that makes sense."

Sept. 12, 2006

(Nawal Qarooni is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. She can be contacted at nqarooni@starledger.com.)

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[Incorrigible]

 

Hmmmm.  I guess with the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad will finally have more room for Iranians to drive their cars.

 

Related thread by the same journalist visiting Tehran:

Tehran Women Make Their Own Statement, in Color

 

[theDentist]

Yearning for the days of only needing to side-step camel dung... ?

[pissant]

Free the Iranian hotties...

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Cutting the gridlock and bringing the city into the 21st century is a mission close to the heart of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who first appeared on the international stage for his work fighting Tehran's traffic crisis.

Sorry Iranians, but giving Hezbollah billions each year to fund Iamjihadmad's proxy war with Israel is more important for Tehran's pollution problem. Enjoy the fresh air.