Yerevan-Stepanakert, Stepanakert-Yerevan. It seems as if it is the same
road, no difference at all. But in reality there is a difference. The
price of one ticket from Yerevan-Stepanakert is 5000 drams, but the
price for coming from Stepanakert to Yerevan-4,500 drams.
On November 26, 2002, the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh(NKR) has
announced the regulations for the contest for organizations that are
involved in solving the problems of passengers using different means of
transportation.
“On May 17, 2003, a board has been elected by the ministry of
industrial infrastructure development and city construction. The
members of that board include one representative from the Ministry of
Internal Affairs and other professionals. One organization has
participated in the contest. “Since the “Step Trans” organization met
all the requirements, it was recognized as the winner of the contest,”
affirmed chief of the department of industry and informational
technologies Suren Tamrazyan.
The “Step Trans” INC will serve the passengers of the Artsakh highway
for the next three years. The route is foreseen for twelve omnibuses,
but there are also buses in the storage rooms which are used in case of
need. According to owner of the organization Suren Ishkhanyan, the
buses are checked up before going out on the road.
The winning organization has presented its suggested ticket price in a
closed envelope-4,500 drams. That price has remained the same for both
Yerevan and Artsakh. After rummaging for information, I did not receive
any information from neither the ministry nor the “Step Trans”
organization and the drivers as to why the bus drivers from Artsakh
charge the passengers in Yerevan 500 drams more and who is the person
responsible for receiving that money. They only reasoned that maybe
that is the fixed price in Yerevan. But the drivers in Yerevan charged
the amount that was set during the contest. The representative from the
ministry explained this by the following:
“We don’t allow any driver to charge more than the fixed price.”
Meanwhile, every day before the Yerevan bus prepares for take off, a
40-50 year old man comes into the bus presenting himself as a bus
station worker and charges 500 drams from the passengers for each
luggage that they carry. As we were leaving Stepanakert, the same man
appeared, started to collect the money and even had disputes with
people who did not have enough money to pay for the whole luggage.
After bargaining for a while, they decided to pay for two items out of
the four. The chauffeur got in the bus only after the “worker” left.
When he saw the upset faces of the passengers, he looked at them and
said:
“Who is your chauffeur, me or that “worker”? Why are you giving him
money when I am the ones taking you with your luggage. I am the
chauffeur and I will not charge you anything extra. So, please, don’t
complain to me.
After this, it seemed as if the passengers were speechless.
But when I tried to find out about that “worker” from the owner of
“Step Trans”, he could not answer my question and claimed that he had
never heard of such a “worker”. However, every time I take the
Stepanakert bus going to Yerevan, I always see that “worker”. One time,
I even went up to him and asked him who had given him the right to
charge money from people illegally. He looked at me and said in a rude
tone: “That’s none of your business. I am just doing the job that they
have given me.”