A city for citizens or cars!

Even at night there is heavy traffic, and there is only one person in almost every car. In some alleys, the parked cars even prevent you from walking on the pavement.

The metropolis of Tehran has been suffering from overpopulation because of migration from other parts of the country, and the resultant increase in cars, pollution, and noise created by motorists is becoming a serious headache for citizens.

Jafar Tashakori Hashemi, the director of the Traffic and Transport Department of the Tehran Municipality, said on Monday that 300,000 to 400,000 additional cars hit the street every year in Tehran. He stated that it will be difficult to keep the traffic congestion from getting even worse.

There are many contrasts in the city.

Whereas many sensible citizens walk to work if they can, others even use their cars to go shopping at stores that are within walking distance of their homes.

Over the past two decades, the municipality has constructed many highways and bridges and developed the public transportation system to ease traffic, but it has failed to keep pace with the rise in the number of cars. Actually, in many parts of the city, buses, which are the heart of the public transport system, are no longer convenient because they are usually caught in heavy traffic.

It is often said -– and rightly so -- that Tehran has become a giant parking lot.

Adding insult to injury, people who commit traffic violations are rarely fined.

Now citizens are worried about their children’s daily trips to school and back. They are worried about the air pollution affecting their children’s health and the careless driving, which threatens their children’s safety.  

And this is not the end of the story.

Every year Iran must spend more of its oil revenues to import gasoline, which it then sells at heavily subsidized prices. This is why Tehran Municipality official Mohammad Eidian said on Tuesday that Iran’s 70 million people consume as much energy as a country with a population of 850 million.

He noted that Iran consumed $43.9 billion of energy in the first six months of the Iranian calendar year, which ran from March 20 to September 21.

In addition, relevant organizations are making no efforts to encourage people to decrease their use of private cars.

Sadly, the city looked quite polluted from November 19 to 20 when the Tehran Municipality was hosting the First Asian Mayors Forum.

With its tree-lined streets and numerous parks, Tehran is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but its residents can only breathe fresh air when a strong wind blows or on rainy days.

And unfortunately, Iran’s other major cities, like Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz, and Ahwaz, are experiencing a similar fate. 

Air pollution, traffic congestion, and excessive noise have made life miserable for city residents.

The city is for citizens, not for roaming cars and motorcycles.

(Nov. 27 Tehran Times Opinion Column)

PA/HG

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MNA