Tehran Metro increases prices

Shargh writes that the price of subway tickets will increase by 25% next year. Starting March 21st the price of a single-trip ticket has been set as 10,000 IRRs, suburban ticket as 15,000 IRRs and Imam Khomeini Airport ticket as 75,000 IRRs. Although Shargh questions the reason for the price hike for the 10 year old fleet, it is clear that at the current price, even after the increase, Tehran Metro is unable to cover its costs. Tehran Municipality has promised to buy 650 new train cars and now the Ministry of Oil has announced that if the Municipality finances this project, this Ministry will pay the Municipality 9.8 USD cents per journey from the fuel savings costs. Tehran metro transfers around 3 million passengers per day, meaning if the Municipality is able to purchase the new train cars, they are looking at an annual income of 1 billion dollars.