Reports | 25 05 2020
Residents of opposition-controlled areas in the city of Aleppo suffer difficulties of mobility between neighborhoods. Transportation costs are exorbitant when compared to their severely limited incomes.
Yasser is a resident of the Sha’ar neighborhood of Aleppo and works as a tailor. His profession requires him to take a taxicab—the fees for which cost him half his monthly income. He has managed to overcome this problem, benefitting from the free transport project, sponsored by the Ibn el-Balad [Citizen] Charitable Association.
The project, which began several months ago with one vehicle; currently serves many people, and operates five small buses. These provide their services free of charge to poor and middle-income families that make up the great majority of Aleppans in the areas under the control of the opposition.
It is worth mention that transport fares normally vary from vehicle to vehicle in the opposition areas. The absence of a regulatory body overseeing pricing and fares has, as a result, given vehicle owners great latitude which they employ to their advantage. Fares for a ten-kilometer ride, for example, have reached as high as one thousand five hundred [Syrian] pounds.
