The old bus number 101 at the Mardakan station seems to carry the weight of the past. The bus connecting the Turkan settlement with the city center reveals the problems in the country's transport system while passing by the beautiful scenery along the Caspian coast. In the evening, Mardakan station is bustling, and the noise of passengers adds to the chaotic atmosphere. By the time bus number 101 approaches the stop, the passengers are muttering and grumbling about the delay.

“Excuse me, is this bus going to Turkan?” a passenger asks the driver.

Driver shakes his head as “yes” and the door opens, exposing a very old bus. There is no ventilation system.

One passenger, who prefers not to share her name, is a 10th-grade student living in Turkan. “When I get on the 101, it feels like either the ground is shaking or, more likely, the bus is completely unusable,” she says. “Turkan is a beautiful place. Everything you are looking for can be found here, except transportation. Transportation is really bad.”

Other passengers agree that the bus is too old to be in use. They note that residents have complained about the 101 and requested newer buses, but to no avail. 

Since there is no option to press a button to signal to the driver to stop, passengers have to ask the driver themselves. But a passenger explains that noise coming from the aging bus makes this nearly impossible. “No matter how much you call, even if you hit the bus, the driver doesn’t hear it,” she says.

Orkhan Zakirov, a transportation researcher, struggles to find anything positive to say about the Azerbaijani transport system. He notes that the issues passengers face with the 101 reflect broader problems in the country's public transportation system.

“Old buses have old standards and they are very weak in terms of security. Old buses do not work with the card payment system. Drivers don’t receive a fixed monthly salary; they work with the plan system, which means the driver rents the bus for the day. Thus, he tries to earn money by collecting the maximum number of passengers during the day in order to pay the rent at the end of the day,” he says. 

This system, driven by the need to meet daily quotas, leads to dangerous driving as drivers rush and compete with each other on the same routes. “For example, sometimes we can see buses on the same route are often competing with each other.  This is due to the desire to quickly grab the next passenger,” Zakirov explains.

Transportation expert Rauf Aghamirzayev notes that the typical service life of the bus is between 7-10 years. However, according to the State Statistics Committee, more than 63 percent (31000) buses in the country have been in use for 20 years or more. Only 12 percent of buses are used for less than 10 years. “This has a direct negative impact on the quality of public transport,” Aghamirzayev says. 

The quality transportation service, however, is not only a pain for passengers; it also affects drivers. For instance, currently, there are eight drivers working on the 101 route, which means drivers have a 16-hour work schedule. Due to the long hours and poor conditions, drivers do not stay on the job for long. 

“The 101 is very old, and its system is unreliable. Drivers spend all their earnings on spare parts and often face fuel shortages. After covering the daily vehicle rent, fuel, and repair costs, our daily income remains at 10-30 manat [5-17 dollars]. For these reasons, I had to quit my job on the 101; I couldn't make enough money,” former driver Fuzuli Aghayev explains.

Seymur Guliyev has been a driver on the 101 route for a year and a half.  He says there are constant complaints about the bus, especially during the winter due to severe weather conditions. Guliyev says he sometimes posts photos of deplorable bus conditions on popular social media pages to raise awareness. “As drivers, we want better buses to ensure safer journeys for ourselves and passengers,” he says.

In response to the low quality and safety issues with public buses, a grassroots solution has emerged over the last 15 years: informal shared transportation services, operating outside of the traditional taxi regulations. Popularly known as “taxi for 1 manat” among the population, these moonlighting drivers have become a lifeline for people living in Turkan and elsewhere on the Absheron who commute between the city center and their homes for work and study. While it cuts travel time to travel the 16 kilometers by roughly half, passengers often pay more than they would for the bus; additionally, such informal carpooling services harm bus drivers who rely on daily passenger quotas.

Chai Khana officially requested an interview with Azerbaijan Ground Transport Agency (AYNA) on the issues raised by passengers and drivers, but the agency did not respond.

Transportation expert Aghamirzayev suggests that to improve public bus services between Baku's center and its suburbs, priorities need to be established. “Additional buses should be deployed to supplement existing ones, with a single-ticket policy for passengers traveling from Turkan, Mardakan, Alat, Bilgah, and other distant areas. Long-term contracts with drivers should be established, and each driver should receive subsidies. Thus, both the bus stops are updated and the buses are optimized.”

This article was produced in the framework of Chai Khana Fellowship program - Summer-Autumn 2023.

This article was prepared with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) South Caucasus Regional Office. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of FES.