Regular Bus Routes In Baku Transport 500 Million Passengers Annually - Tarlan Safarov

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. Following targeted structural interventions to optimize public transit networks across the capital, the total length of dedicated bus lanes in Baku has reached 114 kilometers, while annual passenger transit volume has surpassed 500 million people, said Tarlan Safarov, Head of the Baku Regional Department of the Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency (AYNA), Trend reports.

He made the remark during a specialized session focused on the Baku City Master Plan, held within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

According to him, the transport agency has secured substantial milestones in modernizing the capital's metropolitan surface transit grid.

"Presently, 368 eco-friendly buses operate actively across urban corridors, backed by the strategic installation of 114 kilometers of dedicated bus priority lanes. Consequently, daily passenger throughput has achieved a 32% expansion, with approximately 2,300 buses deployed to active operational routes every single day," Safarov reported.

"Accelerating active mobility across the capital stands as an essential baseline directive for our agency. To date, we have constructed 65 kilometers of specialized bicycle lanes, intending to rapidly scale this grid to 100 kilometers over the short-term horizon. Concurrently, transport engineers have deployed more than 1,000 dedicated parking stations tailored for bicycles and diverse micro-mobility assets," the AYNA official emphasized.

According to the regional chief, these synchronized infrastructure upgrades have successfully altered commuting patterns, allowing micro-mobility options to capture roughly 20% of short-distance journeys within the central urban core.

"Data networks have recorded more than 4 million individual micro-mobility trips, while the aggregate user base has climbed past 540,000 unique riders. These performance metrics clearly demonstrate that the public is fully prepared to adopt sustainable transport solutions provided the necessary baseline infrastructure enters active service. To expand pedestrian comfort and safety standards, a comprehensive pedestrian-oriented spatial reconstruction was completed on Islam Safarli Street, with analogous modernization projects scheduled for deployment across additional urban quarters," Safarov concluded.

Today marks the fifth day of WUF13 in Baku.

The first day included a ministerial meeting dedicated to the New Urban Agenda, a ministerial roundtable, assemblies for women and civil society, business sessions, and discussions on urban prosperity. An official ceremony marking the raising of the UN and Azerbaijani flags also took place.

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