Tehran Getting there & around

Getting around

Public transport

Minibus

Crowded public minibuses are found in the suburbs and most travellers are unlikely to need them. If you do, finding the right minibus is not easy, so ask, ask and ask again. The place you’re most likely to need one is going north of Tajrish Sq; for an idea of prices, the trip from Tajrish to Darakeh or Tochal costs IR1000.

Trolleybus

An electric trolleybus runs between the eastern bus terminal and Khorasan Sq.

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Bus & tram

Bus

Buses cover virtually all of Tehran, but as they’re often crowded and slow, most travellers end up using taxis. Buses run from roughly 6am until 10pm or 11pm, finishing earlier on Friday and public holidays. Tickets cost slightly more than nothing – IR200. You buy them from ticket booths near bus stops or at bus terminals, and then give them to the driver when you board the bus.

Buses normally travel from one local bus terminal to another, so you may need to take more than one. Major bus departure points you might use include Imam Khomeini Sq, from where buses go in all directions; the terminal on the opposite side of Imam Khomeini Ave from the National Museum of Iran, for the west; Arzhantin, Vanak and Valiasr Sqs, for the north; Azadi Sq, for further west; and Rah-Ahan Sq, for the far south.

Buses never show their destinations in English and numbering is inconsistent. However, if you ask at the station or bus stop, you’ll be pointed to the right bus. Some handy routes going north–south include Arzhantin Sq to Tajrish Sq; Imam Khomeini Sq to Arzhantin Sq; Imam Khomeini Sq to Tajrish Sq; and Valiasr Sq to Tajrish Sq.

Private bus companies began operating in 2006, with newer, more comfortable and faster buses for a flat IR1000 cash fare. Azadi Sq to Tajrish was the first route, and expect more.

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Car & motorcycle

If you’re driving in Tehran, try to put out of your mind everything you’ve ever learned about road rules – none of it applies here. Out of a basic instinct for survival you’ll soon assimilate to the lawless aggression of the locals and be driving with 100% attention – and 180-degree vision – at all times.

One adrenalin-inducing way to get across town in a hurry is on a motorcycle taxi. You’ll see them loitering on corners all over town, though the corner of Jomhuri-ye Eslami Ave and Ferdosi St is a good place to look for one going north. They cost as much as taxis but take half the time. Good luck!

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Local transport

Metro

Tehran’s ambitious underground railway network, the Tehran Metro (www.tehranmetro.com), will eventually service much of the city. However, at the time of writing only sections of Line 1 (or the red line), Line 2 (navy blue) and all of Line 5 (green) were operating,

Tickets cost IR1000 per journey and slightly more on Line 5. Tickets have magnetic strips and are valid for a single journey, 10 journeys (probably the best for travellers), one day, three days or seven days; longer stored-value cards are also available. Trains start at about 6am and stop around 10pm or 10.30pm, running most frequently at peak hours. Station announcements are in Farsi only, so keep an eye on the English maps inside the trains.

The Metro website has extensive information about bus links to its various stations around town.

Line 1 (red)

For now, the red line is by far the most useful for travellers. It runs from Haram-e Motahar (Imam Khomeini’s tomb) in the south to Mirdamad in the north, via the main junction of Imam Khomeini Sq. More importantly, the Metro PR people assured us the northern extension to Tajrish Sq would be completed in 2009, so getting up to the northern palaces and Darband will be much, much easier, cheaper and faster.

Heading south, Line 1 stops at Terminal-e Jonub, Rey and Shohada, for the Behesht-e Zahra martyrs cemetery, but not yet Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Line 2 (dark blue)

Line 2 runs from Tehran (Sadeghieh) in the west, where it connects with Line 5 to Karaj, to Dardasht in the east. It connects to Line 1 at Imam Khomeini Sq, and is handy to the Amir Kabir St cheap hotels (Mellat Metro station). The eastern extension should be completed by the time you read this, meaning it will run all the way to Terminal-e Gharme (the western bus terminal), providing a fast link to Imam Khomeini Sq and western Tehran, where Azadi station is within walking distance of Azadi Sq.

Line 3 (light blue)

Line 3 is the one Tehranis are praying for. Running from satellite town Islamsharh in the south to the far northeastern suburbs, Line 3 will be most useful for both Tehranis and travellers because it includes a section from the train station (Rah Ahan) north along mega-crowded Valiasr Ave before veering east underneath Dr Beheshti Ave. It will connect with Line 2, Line 4 and Line 1 (at Shahid Beheshti), and hopefully take thousands of cars off Valiasr Ave.

Line 4 (yellow)

Work for Line 4 began in 2005 and the first stations are scheduled to open in 2008, with the whole line completed by 2013. This east–west line will eventually run from the western terminal (Azadi terminal) underneath Enqelab Ave to Tehran’s eastern suburbs. The western leg will be most useful to travellers, with a spur running to Mehrabad airport.

Line 5 (green)

The completed Line 5 is largely above ground and is, in effect, an extension of Line 2. It runs from Tehran (Sadeghieh) out past Karaj to Golshahr.

Taxi

Tehran taxis come in a variety of colours that, in theory, govern what services they can offer. In practice, however, it’s anything goes. The vast majority of taxis are Paykans, many of them shitboxes of the first order. Then there is every other car on Tehran’s roads, almost all of which have the potential to be a taxi if the driver needs the rial.

Private taxi

Yellow taxis are supposed to be private taxis, but any empty car will usually take you dar baste if you ask; just say, for example, ‘Meydan Azadi dar baste’. The alternative is to get your hotel to call a ‘wireless taxi’ (133), which cost a little more. You could also call the Women’s Taxi Company (1821), whose green taxis are driven by women, for women passengers only, and when you call to book you’ll speak only to women then, too.

Unless you’re familiar with the going rates, agree on a price before setting out. In Tehran most drivers won’t go anywhere for less than IR10, 000, and will push prices up in lots of IR5000 or IR10, 000 for longer trips. Negotiation is encouraged.

Sample fares include the following: Imam Khomeini Sq to Valiasr Sq for about IR15, 000/25, 000 in off-peak/peak hour; and Imam Khomeini Sq to Tajrish Sq about IR40, 000/60, 000. To hire a taxi for an hour or so to visit several sites should cost about IR50, 000, so long as they’re not too distant. To get from southern Tehran to the north, even in a private taxi, takes a minimum of half an hour, much longer in peak hour when prices rise accordingly.

Meter taxis do exist, but we’ve yet to see a meter actually working.

Shuttle taxi

Taxi fares in Tehran are higher than elsewhere in Iran. The minimum fare is IR1000 for one or two meydans (squares) of travel, climbing to about IR7000 for the longest trips. Watch what other passengers are paying and you’ll soon get an idea of the going rate.

Shuttle taxis ply main thoroughfares between major meydans and the best way to use them is to learn the names of the meydans and know which one you want to go to. Meydans such as Imam Khomeini, Vanak, Valiasr, Tajrish, Arzhantin, Azadi, Ferdosi, Enqelab, Haft-e Tir, Rah-Ahan and Imam Hossein are major shuttle-taxi hubs. However, even these meydans may have several ministations for shuttle taxis heading in different directions. You might be lucky and get a shuttle taxi all the way from, say, Valiasr Sq to Tajrish Sq (IR6000), but often you will have to change at Vanak Sq. Metro stations also have plenty of loitering shuttle taxis.

When trying to hail a shuttle taxi, don’t bother with anything in any language along the lines of ‘Iran Hotel, on the corner of…’: the driver will have lost interest after the word ‘hotel’, picked up someone else and be halfway there before you know it. Use a major landmark or a town square as a destination, even if you are getting off before then. Shout it quickly and loudly: ‘FeDOSe!’ will do for Ferdosi St or Sq; similarly, ‘eHESHTe!’ for Beheshti St or Sq; and so on. The driver will either ignore you, or give you a quick beep on the horn and pull over for half a second while you leap in.

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