Almaty subway gets European quality award

Credit: kazpravda.kzFor the second time this year the Almaty subway receives the highest award of the European Society for Quality Research (ESQR), kazpravda reports, citing city mayor's office press release.

The first ESQR award was given in July this year in London in the Gold category, and again, six months later, but this time in the Platinum category. The good news is that the entire December issue of the ESQR journal will be about the Almaty subway.

Akhmetzhan Yesimov, the mayor of Almaty, celebrated the event and hosted in his city residence a group of subway employees. He expressed his appreciation of their accomplished work and congratulated with winning of two international awards. But the highest award to them, he said, is the town residents’ gratitude for the comfort it brings, transporting 24,000 passengers a day.

Together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in 2014 the construction of the surface light rail lines will be commenced, the mayor said. The Almaty program for transition to environmentally friendly public transport is in action, 200 new buses are to be running on natural gas. The bus fare will remain the same, said the deputy mayor Yuri Ilyin – only the price of preferential travel passes will be raised. For school students it will be 1000 tenge, for university and college students — 2800, for pensioners — 2000. And since February 2014 the travel pass in Almaty will be the same on all passenger transport means.