Iran - Andrew Burke [347]
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THE PERENNIAL PAYKAN
For more than 35 years the Paykan was almost the only car you’d see on Iranian roads. The Paykan (which means Arrow – don’t laugh) is a replica of the 1966 Hillman Hunter, an uninspiring vehicle if ever there was one. But it was exactly the sort of cheap, no-frills car Iran needed when it was first sold there in the late 1960s. The boxy white Paykan, the very definition of utilitarian, went on to dominated the roadscape more than any other car since the Model-T Ford. Indeed, it became so well loved that in the years before production was finally stopped in 2005 there was a two-year waiting list to get one.
But while Iranians respect the Paykan’s ability to get the job done – just – they are also aware of its diabolical impact on the environment. The Paykan burns, on average, between 12L and 15L of leaded petrol per 100km. That is at least double the exhaust most modern cars pump out, and with no catalytic converter, the poisons are even greater. So bad that, according to reports, the Iranian government actually paid Iran Khodro to shut the factory. Still, with more than two million Paykans on Iran’s roads (more than 40% of all vehicles) they’ll be around for decades yet. And if reports are to be believed, the Paykan will live on in Africa, where the production line has been sold to a Sudanese company.
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AGENCY TAXI
Agency taxis, also known as ‘telephone’ taxis, don’t normally stop to pick up passengers; you have to order them by telephone or at an agency office. There are agency-taxi offices in even the smallest towns and hundreds of them in Tehran. Some of the top hotels run their own taxi services, and any hotel or mosaferkhaneh (lodging house) can order a taxi for a guest. Naturally, this is the most expensive way of using taxis, but you get a better car, the comfort of knowing there will be someone to complain to if anything goes wrong and, possibly, a driver who speaks English. One reader wrote to say that lone women are advised to get someone to call them a taxi if they’re travelling after dark, thus avoiding being hooted at or ignored by dozens of drivers as they try to hail one. Demand is such that Tehran now has a women-only taxi company Click here – female drivers, female passengers, no groping.
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MINIBUS
Minibuses are often used for shorter distances linking larger cities and towns to surrounding villages. Sometimes they’re an alternative to the bus, but usually there’s no choice; just take whatever is going your way. Minibuses are particularly popular along the Caspian Sea coast, and between Caspian towns and Tehran.
Minibuses are marginally more expensive than buses, but not enough to worry about. They are often faster than larger buses and because they have fewer passengers they spend less time dropping off and picking up. On the downside, they’re not at all comfortable and usually leave only when they’re full, which can mean a long wait.
Minibuses sometimes leave from a special terminal and sometimes from the main bus terminal. If in doubt, just charter a taxi and tell the driver you want to go to the terminal-e Rasht, Tehran or wherever. Arriving in a town, they have an annoying habit of depositing you in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, hopeful taxi drivers will probably be waiting.
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PRIVATE TAXI
Almost every single taxi in the country is available for private hire. Needless to say, prices are open to negotiation. One excellent way to avoid getting ripped off is to ask the driver of a savari (see opposite) for the price per person of a certain trip then multiply it by four or five.
If you prefer to hire