Financial Tribune- Tehran Municipality announced that 44 cars will be added to Tehran Subway�s fleet next week.

Deputy mayor for transport affairs said the subway fleet�s capacity will increase by 174,000 people a day, the municipality�s official website reported.

Mohsen Pourseyyed-Aqaei added that 28 of the cars will be brand new and the rest will be face-lifted.

�The municipality has placed expansion of public transportation system and improvement of the quality of services on top of its agenda,� he added.

As a citizen of Tehran, one of Pourseyyed-Aqaei�s main concerns is tackling air pollution and he believes that in order to instill the culture of using public transportation, the authorities themselves must use public means of transportation.

The deputy mayor, who is a regular passenger of Tehran Subway, noted that the municipality is making efforts to reduce the volume of personal cars plying the streets of Tehran.

�Traveling by bus and subway helps me recognize the shortcomings and find solutions,� he said.

Pointing to statistics that show 80% of the city�s pollution emanate from cars, Pourseyyed-Aqaei appealed to his colleagues in the municipality as well as people from other walks of life to use public transportation to go to work.

He is one of the supporters of �Car-Free Tuesdays� campaign that was launched three years ago in Arak, Markazi Province, and has since been adopted by most cities in every province to varying degrees.

It was thought up by environmentalists fed up with the lack of action to curb air pollution to help raise awareness about the participation of the general public in reducing air pollution.

CEO of the subway company, Farnoush Nobakht, estimates that the subway system hosts a daily average of 2 million commuters with each spending up to 35 minutes for each trip.

The city�s subway system comprises seven main lines (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, of which lines 3, 6 and 7 are yet to be completed) with nearly 100 stations.

The trains and stations are almost always overcrowded during the rush hours and commuters can hardly get on and off the trains with ease, which leaves much space for improvement.