Haykakan Zhamanak Blog

Via Kornelij Glas I found out, that Haiykakan Zhamanak newspaper have started a blog. It has started last week, is only in Russian, and as Kornelij notes, these are basicly commentable articles.

However, following A1plus blog, Panorama.am election site, Echannel blog (temporarily closed), this is already the forth Armenian media outlet to use blogging as an interactivity feature, and as a blogging maniac, I am more then happy to see such developments in the Armenian blogosphere.

Transport Hell in Yerevan

Don’t drive in Yerevan, Notes From Hairenik says, because as a result of Due to the numerous road construction projects car-driving “has become very hazardous with cars passing one another indiscriminately and causing near life-threatening accidents”. The root of the problem is corruption in the way the state grant licenses, Christian Garbis speculates, and the solution - take a taxi, don’t waste your nerves:

It is a fact that most motorists on the road today obtain their driver’s licenses by paying a bribe, without passing any tests to prove they are capable of being able to drive. As a result you have insane numbers of drivers operating their vehicles nearly out of control. I for one am going to start taking a taxi to where I work in Arabkir every morning because it is not worth wasting my nerves or my safety driving on these roads. I’ve had it.

Not everyone can afford taxi though, and Zara from Life around me, is more for the shuttle buses (minivans, often referred to as Marshrutkas), which cost 100 drams (about 30 cents) 5-10 times less then taxi, are usually fully packed, drive unsafely, and have an wide range of disadvantages, 5 of which are analyzed at legth in Zara’s post:

Well, actually I like traveling to any place by marshutkas and I take a taxi on rare occasions and also I don’t want to drive, especially in this manic city…

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Yeah, I know, marshutkas are not that safe, some people call them “100-dram-killers”. However, I don’t mind other people around me, I rather prefer it, especially when so funny incidents and conversations happen in them. And but for several things, marshutkas would be my adorable means of transportation.

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Sure, there are many other disadvantages, but I’ll leave them up to you. And anyways, I still prefer marshutkas!

One thing I know for sure - I will walk on every possible occasion, only to avoid getting into traffic hell. I can’t afford a car yet, but its definitely much better then the public transport. Taxis are a good solution, but they are not for everyone, as an average trip costs $3 US so travelling to work and back in taxi every day will take about $140 US, which is more then half of reported average salary in Armenia. And best of all is - working and sleeping in one location and not going anywhere if you can. It really is traffic hell in Yerevan these days, and I don’t see any tendencies for improvement for the nearest 3-4 months.