Minister: New subsidy scheme for buses to be applied by year-end

By 2030, Azerbaijan aims to increase the number of buses in the capital to 3,000, Rashad Nabiyev, Azerbaijani Minister of Digital Development and Transport, said during the session Cities at the Center of Connectivity: Urban Reconstruction and Regional Cooperation held within the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

Nabiyev noted that when the project began, Baku had about 1,700 buses, while today the number has risen to 2,350: "This process is not carried out solely through state investments; private investments are also involved. The market share between state-owned and private bus companies is approximately 50-50. It should be noted that this is one of the most serious problems in neighboring countries. When they exchange experiences with us, they always admit that excluding the private sector from the market was a significant mistake."

The minister further stressed that decades ago, allowing private sector entry into the market was a far-sighted and correct decision: "By taking this step, we now have a mechanism to ensure comparative advantage and cost efficiency between public and private investments. Moreover, by the end of this year, we will transition to a new subsidy scheme. Under this system, it will essentially not matter who transports passengers. Each passenger will be subsidized based on the kilometers traveled by buses. We call this the 'gross contract' system, and its adoption is imminent."