January 03, 2017
The number of clunker taxis scrapped and replaced by new models since last Now Ruz has reached 40,000 nationwide, or about a thousand a week, Environment chief Masumeh Ebtekar said last Saturday.
Ebtekar made the remarks in Tehran in a ceremony to celebrate the scrapping of the 40,000th taxi with Industry Minister Moham-mad-Reza Nematzadeh and Vice President Mohammad Shariat-madari in attendance.
Nematzadeh said some 15,000 electric motorcycles have been manufactured in Iran in recent months and called for incentive programs to encourage people to buy these zero emission products.
Shariatmadari said that scrapping 17,000 buses and 65,000 trucks and other heavy vehicles are high on the government’s agenda.
It is also plans to add some 400 cars to Tehran’s subway fleet, he said.
Earlier this month, Nemat-zadeh said the number of replaced taxis would grow to 60,000 by the end of the current Persian calendar year in March.