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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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