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Published: February 16th 2006
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Long distance Volvo buses in Iran
This is the new long distance buses you get in Iran. The price is double the price of the Benz bus.... Long distance buses
Iran’s long distance buses are of two types.
The older and the newer buses:
The older buses are by Mercedes Benz and the newer once are from Volvo, Scania and MAN buses. The Benz is about half the price as the other 3 but much slower. Comfort wise as well the other 3 looks better than the Benz. You go to the terminal and tell them where you want to go and by the ticket. In Esfahan the price seemed constant however in Tehran you can negotiate. First I was told the Volvo bus from Tehran to Istanbul was IRA350,000/= then the Scania people told me it was IRA250,000/= and finally the MAN people told me they can give me a ticket for IRA200,000. I have been in a Volvo and MAN and I think MAN is better.
Local buses
Local buses are quite comfortable and look a bit like the British buses not the double-decker type the others type.
The ticket procedure is a little different. There are ticket kiosks outside many important bus stops and you buy tickets from them. Once you reach your destination you give the ticket to
the driver and he destroys it. The system here is quite tolerant. Apparently if you don’t have a ticket they would ask you to buy a ticket later and destroy it yourself. It’s based on a lot of trust.
The minimum is you got to buy 4 tickets for IRA1,000/=
The ticket price for all distances is the same. Essentially whether you go 1km or 5kms you still pay the same amount (i.e. you give the driver only one ticket). In Esfahan the ticket price was IRA250/=. There are some buses which goes a longer distance and they use two tickets instead of one. In these buses irrespective of whether you go 1km or 10kms you still have to use 2 tickets. Hence it is unwise for you to go on a “two ticket bus” if you are going to a place which is serviced by a “one ticket bus”.
The women sit at the back and the men sit in front. As usual a woman may sit with her partner if she wants in the front. However it’s not as bad as Pakistan where the men and women are separated by a steel frame.
Taxis
Unofficial shared taxi in Iran
This is a typical unofficial shared taxi. The official ones look the same but there is a blue, green or red line in the middle. These are official taxis you can call or get off the street. These are more expensive as you will be the only person and will take you to the exact location.
Official shared taxis
These are funny type of taxi. Essentially say you need to go from A to D. when you are using shared taxi they go from A to B. Then you get down take another shared taxi from B to C and then again C to D.
It is cheaper to use this rather than taking a private taxi and going from A to D at once. A private taxi is obviously faster.
This type of transport is more prominent in Tehran than Esfahan because Tehran is a much larger city than Esfahan.
These taxis would have a blue or orange strip in the middle of the car to show that it is an official share taxi.
The way they charge is by the number of intersections they cross. This is a very cheap mode of transportation; as low as IRA250 per person.
Unofficial shares taxis
This is the same as above however these are not official. Essentially say
Tehran metro that extends to the suburbs
This is the metro that goes outside Tehran to Karaj which is 40kms away from Metro. Esfahan's metro is still being built. for example you are on your way back from work, you can stop and pickup people and drop them and charge something for it.
Metro
The Esfahan metro is still being built. It is supposed to be completed this year but the local think it will take a few more years for completion and by looking at it, I don’t think they will finish it this year either.
The Tehran metro is quite good and spans more than 60-70kms. From Imam Khomeini station to Karaj is about 40 kms. So this metro is quite large. It is still being built only 3 out of 9 lines are operational.
The metro ticket concept is the same and the bus ticket concept where one ticket takes you anywhere. The cost of a Tehran metro ticket is IRA650/=.
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masoud
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Nice pictures
The pictures are quite nice.