A total of 180 new minibuses will start serving passengers in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi starting Monday, February 22, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said.
Kaladze said that the plan is to replace the current outdated fleet of yellow minibuses (marshrutkas) in Tbilisi with 300 new Ford minibuses.
"120 minibuses out of 300 units have already been operating in the city and are equipped with all the technical capabilities that a minibus needs. The replacement of the outdated fleet will be completed by the end of the year," Agenda.ge cited him as saying.
Kaladze said that all 300 minibuses are already purchased and will appear in the city step-by-step.
In addition Tbilisi City Hall has reduced the number of minibuses operating in Tbilisi from 3,000 to 1,200.
Since 2011 the Tbilisi Minibus Company has been operating a yellow minibus fleet in Tbilisi.
Current fare for one-way travel, on long routes is 80 tetri and on short routes it is 50 tetri.
