Presentation of Mobility Transformation Program in Azerbaijan took place

On 18 December, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport held a press briefing in connection with a presentation on the work done and planned projects within the Mobility Transformation Program in Azerbaijan.

At the event, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rahman Hummatov said that  Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency (AYNA), with the involvement of an international consulting company, has launched a program related to mobility in Baku, and part of the program has already been implemented. Infrastructure projects related to traffic management, reform of taxi service, parking management, analysis of bus routes, creation of micromobility infrastructure are the components of this project.

“The goal is to increase the availability of public transport, mobility within the city, to make the transport system safer and more environmentally friendly, to reduce waste emissions into the atmosphere,” the deputy minister stressed.

It was noted that in order to achieve the goals set by 2030, the work is underway in several stages.

Thus, more than 60 initiatives to transform the mobility system were reviewed. AYNA has conducted an extensive analysis of the specialized field, and collected a large database. A digital twin of Baku city was created. Planning of the latest infrastructure projects, optimization of regular route lines is carried out on the basis of this digital twin.

It was reported that to date, more than 20 projects with huge investment potential have been modelled on the “digital twin” and scientifically substantiated results have been obtained. The six most effective projects have been identified and their implementation will start soon.

It was noted that over the past period, important steps have been taken towards the electronization of services, as well as ensuring digital transformation in this area. Mobile applications BakuKart, Azparking, Biletim.az, as well as several subsystems of the AYNA Information System have been launched. In the near future, a new component of the AYNA Information System – an electronic bill of lading drawn up for the transport of goods for commodity purposes – will be put into operation.

The first positive results of the mobility program have already been observed. Thus, as a result of the reforms implemented in the taxi sector, the number of taxi rides in Baku has decreased by about 14 percent.

Analyses show that the number of journeys to and from the metro by vehicle used as a passenger taxi has also decreased significantly. The average trip distance increased from 8.5 km to 10 km due to a reduction in short distance trips. The number of daily transportations by buses increased by 100 thousand to 1 million 600 thousand.

The process of taxi ordering operators’ activities based on a license has also been initiated. To improve the level of service to citizens, taxi drivers were involved in trainings. To date, more than 14,000 drivers have applied for training conducted at the AYNA Training and Education Center. More than 11 thousand of them have participated in the trainings.

But this is not a complete solution to the problem. Early next year, technical requirements will be applied to vehicles used as passenger taxis. Currently, the approval of the requirements is at the final stage.

One of the steps taken to ensure mobility is the proper organization of parking lots. Depending on the demand for parking, certain parts of Baku city are divided into four paid zones. As a result of work carried out in the zones, over 17 thousand parking places have been organized. Work on the central and 1st zones have been completed. Work on the 2nd and 3rd zones are in progress.

The briefing reiterated that it is illegal to demand money from drivers for parking.

In order to prevent illegal collection of money for parking, to ensure digitalization and ease of use, payment is made only through mobile applications and SMS in a cashless manner.

It should be noted that no payment is required for parking vehicles in paid parking spaces for up to 15 minutes. Parking is free on Sundays and every day from 22:00 to 7:00.

As part of the ongoing work towards improving the mobility of the capital city, important measures have been taken to ensure accessibility of public transport. All route lines have been analyzed by AYNA, the number of buses on the lines has been taken under daily control, and smooth running of buses has been ensured. Efforts are currently underway to reduce the load on the buses. Compared to last year, 200 additional buses have been put into service.

It was also emphasized that the allocation of a special lane for buses increases the capacity of roads several times. It is noted that the average allowed speed of buses has increased as a result of fulfilment of requirements of specially allocated bus lanes by road users. Currently, there are 21 bus lanes on the streets and avenues of Baku and Absheron district. After the creation of the lane on the Baku-Sumqayit road, the time it takes buses to reach their final stop has been significantly reduced. During the day, more than 1,800 buses on 37 regular routes travel along this section of the road. Due to compliance with the requirements of the lane, conditions have been created for comfortable, unimpeded and without additional loss of time carriage of about 140,000 public transport users.

It was noted that supervision of the observance of traffic violations, especially parking and the use of bus lanes will be enhanced.

Multimodal transport will also be enhanced by ensuring integration between transport modes.

The new challenges are to make the modern urban environment more human-centred and to stimulate the use of micro mobility tools. Taking these trends into account, AYNA has identified the development of micro mobility as one of the main directions of its activities. The mobility project also took into account bicycles, scooters, which are vehicles with small wheels. In the first phase, a 7 km long cycle and scooter track will be constructed. Work is also ongoing towards the creation of appropriate infrastructure for pedestrian traffic.

AYNA analyses road infrastructure and traffic flows in order to ensure comfortable and unimpeded movement of public transport, reduce traffic load on congested streets, and develops infrastructure projects based on the results. Two infrastructure projects have already been implemented as part of the work carried out in this direction.

Protecting the road surface, road structures and other infrastructure elements by applying new technologies is always in the center of attention. For this purpose, a unified monitoring center for electronic scales has been established to extend the life of the road surface, ensure safety and other requirement. The center will enable the collection and processing of data received from electronic scales installed on highways in a single space, as well as their use in accordance with the legislation.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport has also developed standards for road signs (installation, dimensions and characteristics) in line with modern requirements, and a new national standard has been adopted. The implementation of these standards has already started.

In conclusion, questions from the press representatives were answered.