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Babken Pipoyan, head of the Informed and Protected Consumer NGO, has criticized the upcoming increase in public transport fares in Yerevan, citing a lack of proper calculations.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Pipoyan presented official documents confirming that the fare hike is based on outdated calculations.

"While reviewing the documents provided by the Yerevan Municipality to justify the fare increase, I came across a statement from the Education is Fashionable campaign stressing the importance of progress and rejecting the use of 2013 calculations in 2025 as unacceptable. I completely agree that the calculations from 2013 are unsuitable for 2025," he said.

Pipoyan shared the Municipality's official response which confirmed that the fare calculations were based on the 2013 standards.

"The transport cost calculation is based on the standards approved by a commission established by Decision H-4721A of the Yerevan mayor on 24 September 2013. Bus transportation costs in Yerevan were calculated based on the average inflation index provided by the Statistical Committee of Armenia for 2013–2024," the expert stated.

“The Yerevan Municipality has essentially admitted to using calculations that were deemed incorrect by the former authorities," Pipoyan added.