DRIVERS TO STOP USING NATURAL GAS?
A1+
[07:08 pm] 17 February, 2009
The expected rise of natural gas prices is forcing many taxi drivers
to switch to benzene or liquefied gas, especially since benzene prices
have gone down recently.
Within the last two months, the price for one liter of benzene has
gone down from 342 drams to 225 drams, while a kilogram of liquefied
gas has gone down from 500-600 drams to 250-350 drams.
"Nowadays natural gas is more expensive than benzene," told "A1+"
independent taxi driver Sevak who has driven with gas to date.
Minibus drivers say that it will be cheaper to use liquefied gas
after the gas price increase, if, of course, the price for liquefied
gas stays the same.
Vice-president of "Gascomfort" Alik Babayan told "A1+" that the
number of customers has gone down by 70 percent during the past two
months and many will switch to either benzene or liquefied gas once
gas prices go up.
The price for a kilogram of the liquefied gas at "Gascomfort" is 350
drams after dropping from 600-650 drams.
Prices for liquefied gas are low at "GoshGas" too with the price for
a kilogram of liquefied gas dropping from 210 drams to 190.
Some taxi drivers think that passengers will have to pay more to taxi
drivers due to the gas price increase. However, taxi services are not
speaking out about that yet, especially since there are less people
calling certain taxi services recently.