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Iran to launch women-only buses |
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Monday, 10 April 2006 |
Iran Focus
 Tehran, Iran, Apr. 10 – Iran is set to launch a sex-segregated bus service in Tehran in the coming months, a semi-official daily reported on Monday.
The hard-line daily Kayhan wrote that special 11-seater minibuses will be set up “in the near future” to transport women only.
The report quoted the head of the Tehran Bus Company Mohammad Ahmadi-Bafandeh as saying that the minibuses owned by private companies would be driven by women.
“By introducing these companies, female drivers will be able to use these vans to transport women, thus making transport easy for women”, Ahmadi-Bafandeh said.
He added that in accordance with instructions by the Mayor of Tehran, the new women-only buses were expected to start running in as early as the latter half of June.
Sex segregation was given a boost when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became President in 2005. Prior to his rise to the presidency, Ahmadinejad was the Mayor of Tehran. One of his first decisions in the city hall was to order gender segregation on elevators.
In August, Iranian official announced plans to set up a sex-segregated park in the north-eastern city of Mashad.
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